Thursday, December 12, 2013

Tim-berrrr!

Last week we experienced intense winds that really shook the rafters.  One of the victims was this 135 year old eucalyptus tree along the shore of Lake Merritt.  Had the tree fallen in any other direction it would have crashed through the roof of the Lake Chalet restaurant, or hit the street and likely, electrical wires and parked cars.  It has become quite the celebrity and has drawn lots of camera-toting visitors.
The winds have died down but the frigid, sunny weather has continued.  A warming trend is predicted for the weekend.   Linked to Skywatch Friday.             

13 comments:

  1. That is unreal. I am surprised it didn't show up on any of the news feeds. Maybe because it looks photoshopped because of the unreality of it.

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  2. That's sad. I hate it when trees, especially old and beautiful, fall.

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  3. A magnificent old giant. Sad but beautiful.

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  4. That is a big tree. long time since I have seen one that size go over. Yep had one near me go over that was at around 200 years old.

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  5. Amazing what soaking rain and heavy wind can move...even huge trees! We had the same storm over the weekend in So Cal and are expecting a warm up as well but just had high wind warning posted for the entire weekend!

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  6. Holy tree! That must have been an earth shacking experience.

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  7. Aún siendo un eucalipto, es una pena que se haya derrumbado por ese temporal; aunque afortunadamente sin causar daños. Tal vez la consecuencia de su caída haya sido la construcción del edificio cercano que debilitó sus raíces; estoy muy seguro de ello. Durante más de una centuria ha permanecido ese árbol ahí aguantando temporales mayores y nunca se vino abajo. ¿Por qué ahora sí? No hay duda; el terreno donde estaba se removió y sus raíces más profundas se vieron sometidas a distensión...¿O no? Siempre hay mucho más detrás de la muerte de un ser vivo cómo ése. Una negligencia que les pudo costar caro a todos, aunque el que más ha sufrido ha sido ese gran ejemplar de eucalipto que debería haber sido mucho más protegido, cómo la distancia para "plantar" la casa cercana. Esperemos que dejen algo de él para el recuerdo y monumentalicen su gran tronco y no lo vendan como leña o decoración de salpicaderos...
    Breves saludos

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  8. That is a huge one coming down, must have sound like an earthquake!

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  9. We had the same experience a few weeks ago. That trees had also the courtesy to fall along and not on the surrounding buildings. ( Well the most.) But this one is a real giant so to see. Must be quite a shock.

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  10. Holy cow that is a gigantic tree. So sad when we lose these old beauties, sounds like the winds were crazy. Hoping things settle down for you up there.

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  11. Well, it would have definitely closed the restaurant! Great image.

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  12. OMG! What a huge tree! The restaurant owners surely are aware of how lucky they were.

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  13. That eucalyptus looks massive!! I've seen them come down before because I don't think they are deeply rooted, but never one this large.

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