Gravity Wave! Plus non-sequitur photo

Chillin in the Wagon, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Sunday night the wind blew so hard (60+ mph) over 40 trees, all of them tall pines with shallow root systems, were knocked over at the park near our house. Two pavilions were destroyed and the park is closed until the guys with chainsaws can do their work. Since the park wasn't the only location with felled trees they have their work cut out for them.

We suffered one broken branch in our oak tree and I'm glad we had the thing cut back substantially last year.

So the weather phenomenon that caused the mighty wind is called a gravity wave, which sounds like something evil out of a cheesy science fiction movie. But here's a definition from the page I linked to:

What is an atmospheric gravity wave? Coleman explains: "They are similar to waves on the surface of the ocean, but they roll through the air instead of the water. Gravity is what keeps them going. If you push water up and then it plops back down, it creates waves. It's the same with air."