The aftermath

I took all three dogs up into the foothills this afternoon, just to get them for a run and for me to walk around a bit. Winds were still blowing strongly, and high clouds blew across from Sonora. It felt colder than it really was in the cold wind.

The dogs were anxious to get out. Sammy sat in the front seat on the way out, sitting erectly and looking at the road ahead.

A lone USBP agent sat in a van at the trailhead as we drove up. I waved at him, drove on, and let the dogs out a few 100 feet from the other truck. I drove slowly uphill to our regular turn-around spot. Winds were howling, and small twigs were across the path.

It probably wasn't very safe to walk around under the brittle sycamores. The entire area was overrun by broken branches and twigs. The dogs didn't mind, though, but my hands were chilled.

I was probably out there an hour, listening to the howling winds and watching the storm clouds roll over the mountain peaks. When I left the trail and got back to my neighborhood, though, the winds had died down and I could feel the warmth of the sun. No new snow had fallen from this storm, but I did notice more water in Miller Creek. We never got any snow in the valley. The brunt of this storm had clearly fallen north of us.

I drove around the neighborhood on my way home to check out any local damage. There wasn't much damage from this storm other than a few trailers in the area losing siding. The biggest damage I saw were road signs bent at 90-degree angles from the wind, especially the Carr Canyon directional sign off Highway 92. Garbage bins were overturned, puddles had formed in the uneven grooves of the dirt road and a few vagrant plastic bags flew freely from cactus and barbed-wire fences.

The most impressive sight were the wind-swept storm clouds coming over the mountains and from Mexico.

We got back home at 2:30pm, only to discover that the electricity had gone out. Three soggy packages delivered by the USPS were in the front yard. Luckily all three contain sealed DVDs or else anything else inside would have been wet. I'm not sure why the USPS didn't just place the smaller packages in my mailbox!

Local news says the Motel6 in town suffered major roof damage.

http://www.svherald.com/content/news/2009/12/09/assessing-damage-71-mph-winds
http://www.kvoa.com/news/sierra-vista-damage/