Friday, 23 March 2018

Some whoosh and shake in Dalmatia

Yesterday evening it again attacked us. It came behind the mountains, strengthened with the support of the freezing forces of the north. While diving into the pass between mountains it was pressed like a diamond under pressure and its power got more scary. From the pass it hit us, it was everywhere and it surely showed its mighty power. Bura, that gloomy northern wind.

The local meteorological center had already issued a formal red warning to the Dalmatian area in good time, luckily bura is not coming as suprise. The motorway was completely closed from traffic, often there is only a ban on large vehicles such as trucks and vans, but now all. There are breaks in the ferry service to the close by islands at sea and boats are urged to stay in ports. Here, the coast was warned of damages on buildings and other structures. When the wind blows up to 140km/h (that's about 39m/s) you surely should hold on to your hat.

When the night fell on us, it finally hit our village. Kitchen hood was buzzing and clattering even though it wasn´t turned on. The gusts bumbed into the walls of the house and howled around corners, on the balcony citrus and laurel trees were blowed from the dust and spider's quite effectively. The electricity broke down a couple of times darkening the whole village and rain was hitting the windows with the power of the wind. I went to bed being happy I had strong concrete walls around me instead of that straw house that sheltered three little piglets in the children story in witch the wolf blowed the house away.

In the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of my wardrobe doors clattering. At first I wondered how the wind could catch them until I realized the bed was shaking. Mother Nature sure was putting on a show and added an earthquake to this spectacle. Fortunately, it quickly faded away. As I learned in the morning the center was located little over twenty kilometers from here and it was  3.6 magnitude on the Richter scale.

The morning was sunny and calm, new day started out as usual. Even confusingly usual, where were the damages of the storm? Here the plants have bura resistance in their genes, they do bend but do not break under these winds. The tile roofs are not torn to the wind, they are firmly attached to their base. Except some occasional light garbage containers or other small stuff, everything is where it should be. In January last year, bura was windmilling deserted Christmas trees as tumbleweed at the desert, nothing like that this time.

The three buras of March are kind of concept in here. Actually, they are quite expected cause after the storms warm days are coming and it´s time to head towards summer. There is already a lot of buds in the lemon tree waiting for the nice sunny days so they can open.

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