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Old 12-21-2004, 10:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vaguelyswami
A personal account of this storm:



This particular storm was very hard to predict, there was a wind warning issued in the area but not until after the front had passed and the damage already done.

For that afternoon Enviroment Canada (www.weather.ec.gc.ca) was forecasting winds building to 40 gusting to 60km/hr in the afternoon. The weather network (www.theweathernetwork.com) was predicting winds building to 45km/hr later in the evening.

I stepped onto a lake slightly south east of Edmonton at around 11:30 that morning. The temperature was very mild and warming quickly. A quick scan of the horizon revealed mostly blue sky with a thin but dark band of clouds far to the north and west. The wind was blowing from the south west at around 25km/hr. Just prior to arriving at the lake I recieved a call from a fellow kiter who was on his way. He reported that he had talked to a friend from Lake Wabamun who's camper had been blown over by the wind a few minutes ago. Lake Wabamun is slightly south of Where Lawrence was killed.

Again, scaning the horizon there was no indication of a severe weather event anywhere nearby. This is very flat country, usually you get half an hours warning or more when any wierd weather approaches. I decided to launch a kite.

Immediately, when my kite was in the air I could tell that the wind was wierd. It was very gustly and swirly for the relatively low wind velocity. On a few occasions the kite would fly beyond me by 10 degrees or more or get pushed straight vertically towards the ground. I atributed this behaviour to a stand of trees some 400-500 meters upwind and decided to head farther onto the lake seeking cleaner wind. 250 meters onto the lake with no obstructions upwind for 2-3 kilometers the wind was no better. I returned to the truck and landed my kite.

Scanning the horizon again northwest of my location the sky had become very dark and smudged. There seemed to be a huge dusty streak across the sky, I estimate about 20km away. The cloud was becoming ominous but was still relatively distant.

Another kiter arived at the lake as I was securing my kite. He reported that there was a major wind storm west of us and we should pack up immediately. I asked him to pack up my kite as I ran onto the lake to warm the local kite shop owner who had two trainer kites flying with a group of new kiters. I estimate from this moment we had one minute or less before the wind hit.

By the time the trainers were on the ground and I returned to the truck the wind speed increased almost instantly from 30km/hr to upwards of 100km/hr. There was almost no warning, no temperature change at all. Until it was blocked out by the blowing snow and dirt the sun was still shining.

If you had the misfourtune of having a kite in the air at that moment, I don't know how much of a chance you would have unless you could release your kite imediately.

This was a freak weather ocurence in the area. That afternoon was the highest sustained wind velocity recorded in the area ever and tied for the highest gust velocity. Had the snow conditions been better on the lake or had the storm hit later in the day there would have been many more kiters riding in the area.
Hello Vaguelyswami,

Thank you for the detailed observations. They help a lot. Do you know where the kiter that warned of a pending storm received that information from? Looking at the Environment Canada wind data it looks like a warning could have been generated from points west as there was about an hour or more time lag.

I agree, this was one extreme weather event and likely a fairly rare one too. Still, I wonder about the hazards posed by less dramatic gust events. We know a fair amount about gusts on the water and kiteboarding accidents. It seems what constitutes "excessively gusty" conditions is still coming into focus across the sport worldwide given the series of tragic kitesurfing accidents in the last few months in squalls.

What is considered "excessively gusty" winds in snow kiteboarding? This will vary from individual to individual but it would be good to know. Also, what factors do you look for before and during a session regarding unstable weather?

Thanks,
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