How much wind is too much?

[JShaw]

Climbed and took down a 40' Blue Spruce the other day in a 25mph wind with 35mph gusts (according to the weather report). I was pretty freaked but got through it. So my question is; how much wind is too much wind?

 

[TimberMcPherson]

once the gusts get over 70mph we start looking at packing up, today was 90mph (live in a windy city) with showers so got some welding done. Depends on the job alot of the time, some jobs it can be a real help. Hedge trimming jobs can be done really fast as the cuttings dissappear like magic

 

[TDunk]

Around here and for my personal taste, it wouldn't bother me to take down a 40' spuce tree on a windy day. Now if it was a 110' spuce leaning over a house, I'd prolly jump to another job until the wind dyes down. A couple weeks ago i took down some big (36" to 40") dead hemlock tree at a couple well locations. I had my notch cut, wedges in, just about ready to let it go and the wind gusted, snapped the hinge and almost took out 6 oil storage tanks. You can look at it two ways, if the tree was alive maybe the hinge wouldn't have snapped or the wind was strong enough to snap it off anyway.

 

[Night Owle]

Wind as A distraction...

I'm not sure You can throw up A MPH number,for Me it's how much is this
Wind keeping Me from paying attention to what I'm doing.
I'll admit I've "hurried" the job along and taken short cuts.
You know cutting lager pieces , not rigging down and such..
If the wind is so much than it cuts in to My safety margin
I'll come back another day.
This work is tough enough without the high wind days.

Be Safe.....

Night Owle....

 

[woodchux]

I use 20mph as my limit.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I would say 35-40 mph for me, but I do not like it.

Some qualifiers are how it is gusting, direction, precipitation, temp...overcast, 25 mph @ 25* blowing up your pantleg puts a damper on motivation.

 

[Stihlboy088]

i get skiddish when it's 25mph when i'm working. for rec climbing bring it on, i love that feeling.

 

[beastmaster]

I've climbed healthy pines in 50 mph winds and it was fun. But I get real nervous up in eucalyptus trees and palms when the wind is over 25 mph, then there is those scary gusts that sneak up on ya. I think there are many variables, is the tree safe, can you safely do the work. The sail effect of a tree even in a light wind can influence where it or part of it will go. Some trees are more prone to snapping in a stiff wind. The good thing is most the clean up blows a way(but where does it go?) If its to windy,take the day off. Be safe.

 

[(WLL)]

great ?

i have herd the trees can begin to fail at 30mph sustained on our local weather channel. it seems I'm usually doing removals on problem trees and failure is greatly increased with strong wind. i think there is many variations with the trees(size,type,health,location,season,snow,ice,rain)and all must be factored in. my advise is to be versatile, as there are many things to do in tree management., so if the wind is to much stay on the ground and outa the woods and do something other then climb. if this is not a option at your job then stay home or get another job. there is a difference between crazy and stupid so use your head,learn all u can,be versatile and keep the options open. be safe climb high and live again to climb another day.

 

[(WLL)]

70mph+ im in the basement

once the gusts get over 70mph we start looking at packing up, today was 90mph (live in a windy city) with showers so got some welding done. Depends on the job alot of the time, some jobs it can be a real help.

:jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop:
with an avatar like that,well i'd be climbing too with 70+mph


i!NOT!i

Hedge trimming jobs can be done really fast as the cuttings dissappear like magic... lol

 

[tree md]

I don't really have a set wind speed for when I will not do a job, I just go by my own judgment on each individual job. Pine boughs can sail like a hang glider in the wind. I will take them down in moderate winds but I will lower every branch to keep them from sailing into a house or anything. I was dropping the top of a medium sized pine onetime in high winds and the wind tried to blow the top back on me. I had cut my notch and was making my back cut when a big gust of wind blew the top back and pinched my saw. I let go of the saw and pushed with both hands to keep it from coming over on me. As soon as the gust of wind subsided the top hinged over and dropped perfectly. It was a tense moment to say the least. Where I live now it is windy the majority of the time so I have to work in it. It's a pain to work in and makes things like limb walking very difficult at times but I have gotten used to working in moderate winds. I try to work around the shop or run estimates on really windy days.

 

[oldirty]

I'm not sure You can throw up A MPH number,for Me it's how much is this
Wind keeping Me from paying attention to what I'm doing.
I'll admit I've "hurried" the job along and taken short cuts.
You know cutting lager pieces , not rigging down and such..
If the wind is so much than it cuts in to My safety margin
I'll come back another day.
This work is tough enough without the high wind days.

Be Safe.....

Night Owle....

i second this statement.

i dont mind "some" windthrow in fact i kinda like the feeling it gives ya. but if i am up there swaying around and i end up worry more about the wood than i am my next cut i usually find my way to the ground. i dont do koala bear impersonations very well.




oldirty

 

[Sunrise Guy]

Over 20mph, constant, and I'll have to think real hard about the situation at hand.

 

[ropensaddle]

Funny thing is usually the live trees are the ones that fail in wind
in the leaf period. I have seen many dead tree left standing while
live ones were blown over as leaf catches more wind and weight is
greater. Many factors go in to failing how wet being the biggest
short of wind speed! Saturated ground can cause many trees to fail
that would otherwise be ok I don't try to do the impossible on windy
days.

 

[Adkpk]

Good posting on this thread.
I like the wind while I'm climbing too. A little.
I was rec climbing a white pine and telling the gf I felt like a puppet as the wind pulled the rope one way then the next. I reset to go up to the next portion of the tree, the portion above the canopy. I was using my lanyard on the other trunk, of which there was three at this point, to pull myself away from one trunk and avert branches when I thought if one trunk broke off I would be split in two. I panicked and descended 15' back to my resting place. Took 5 and went back up to set a throw line at 70' and take a couple of pics. Wind is definitely disorientating. Still trying to get to the top of that pine.

 

[treesquirrel]

If wind is working in a direction adverse to my work then I will wait.

Tree canopies are like parachutes and catch a lot of air. I do not play those odds if have the choice.

 

[oldirty]

"when I thought if one trunk broke off " *

Still trying to get to the top of that pine.

*(dont be doing this to yourself man. it'll only freak you out. )

keep going man you'll get there.



oldirty

 

[da new feller]

i found this works pretty good.....

i'm in western wa. and was removing some hazards near a house along the hood canal. the trees were in a bunch so we started with the one furthest from the house. when we got to the last 2, the wind went from breezy to pretty uncomfortable sustained. we watched these 2 blow one way then out of the blue the wind switched directions. i figured with my luck if i left them till the next day they would have took out the house seeing how the first trees felled provided some protection from the elements. so i opened the gate on the side of the house and nosed my truck right up to the fence. i was probably less than 25' from the tree, but on the wrong side of it to do anything. there was a doug fir towards the back of the yard so i put a pulley on that and another pulley on the neighbors tree behind the fence. the 120' cable that i always pack around but never use made it from the tree in question through the pulley on the neighbors tree and over to the other pulley, had to use a come-along to pull up the slack to feed the cable threw the pulley. ran the winch, warn model 8274, cable up to the other cable and slowly took out the slack . then slowly started to draw the tree until it stopped moving with the wind. it was quite a sight to see all the other trees blowing violently in the wind except for that one, it looked like it was in paradise standing straight up with what looked to be a calm breeze lightly touching the branches. we left the hinge wider than normal. climbed in the truck grabbed the winch remote and felled that tree right between the shed and the garden. hooked up to the last tree and placed right on top of it. given the circumsatances, it looked like i knew what the hell i was doing. at any rate, i find myself using that winch quite often know. a matter of fact, since then i've put a choker about halfway up trees and winched them down, pulling the root ball loose from the ground and leaving the tree about 3-4' off the ground for some of the graviest limbing / buck'n i've ever done.

jon

 

[TimberMcPherson]

I was dismantling a pine two weeks ago in 60-70mph winds, but it was nerve wrecking. (should have called it a day really but was feeling adventurous)
I was doing a downward cut on a limb that was a foot in diameter. I was half way through when the saw jammed up, the wind was pushing the limb upwards which was trapping the saw! The tree was a twin trunk and the movement of them, even where the trunks were 3 foot in diameter was a little scary. Such a relief when you get the last bit of green off, coz then its all stable and just a bombing run.

I was contract climbing for a guy in really high wind, we were about 3 blocks from the sea and I found sand on my truck at the end of the day.

 

[Adkpk]

If wind is working in a direction adverse to my work then I will wait.

Tree canopies are like parachutes and catch a lot of air. I do not play those odds if have the choice.

The top of this 110' pine would be blowing (which is 40' above the canopy) when the leaves of the canopy would be still and vis a versa. Colder winds pulling warmer air out of the woods. The pine never moved at the same time as the trees of the canopy. The air from the woods was not strong enough to move the middle of the pine but made the canopy move violently. Just an interesting observation. I would say the ground wind was 20 mph and the upper winds a little more but it was definitely a day of dropping temps.

*(dont be doing this to yourself man. it'll only freak you out. )

keep going man you'll get there.



oldirty

Thanks, dirty for the encouragement. I laughed at myself once I descended.