Archive for category: Wind Power

At Least 1 Dead as Dust Storms Cause Pileups in Illinois

/in , /by

At least one person was killed Wednesday after blowing dust triggered multiple vehicle collisions throughout Illinois.

Strong thunderstorm winds caused the dust storms in the Prairie State, according to weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan. A portion of Interstate 72 near New Berlin and along Interstate 55 near Auburn were affected by the conditions.

The fatal accident occurred on Route 36 between Tuscola and Camargo, IllinoisHomepage.net reports. The roadway was shut down between the two towns. The victim’s identity has not yet been released.

The vehicle containing the victim was involved in a multi-car accident that included at least one tractor-trailer, according to the State-Journal Register. Multiple other injuries were reported from the pileup and at least one motorist had to be pulled from the wreckage of their car.

Police shut down Interstate 72 at the Morgan-Sangamon county line and eastbound Illinois Route 104 at Auburn due to the conditions, which they described as being a “total blackout” at times, the State Journal-Register reports.

U.S. Route 6 had to be closed between Wyanet and Princeton after poor visibility caused two crashes, according to NewsTribune. Traffic on Interstate 80 was slowed to a halt due to accidents.

A ground stop was temporarily in place at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago due to the winds, ABC7 Chicago reports.

More than 3,740 were left without power Wednesday, according to local utility Ameren.

Author: Ada Carr

Original Source: https://weather.com/news/news/dust-storm-wind-illinois-fatal-accident-vehicle-collisions

Picture: http://newschannel20.com/news/local/dust-storms-in-illinois-causes-fatal-car-accidents-05-18-2017

Gale force winds cause accidents and powercuts

/in , , /by

Gale force winds caused accidents and power cuts in parts of Macclesfield.

Strong gusts of up to 55mph caused a Costa Coffee van to come off the road along the A537 Cat and Fiddle.

Macclesfield Police responded to the accident which took place yesterday afternoon (Tuesday, June 6) with a humorous tweet “Ground by the wind. This is going to Costa lot to repair #ohbeans”.

There have also been reports of a power cut in Prestbury.

Engineers are heading to the SK10 4 postcode.

A spokesperson for Electricity North West, said: “Damage to an overhead line caused the loss of power to 15 customers in Macclesfield at 12.59am this morning.

“Power supplies have been removed to customers to allow our engineers to safely carry out repairs. Our engineers are working to get customers power supply back on as soon as possible.

“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience and thank customers for their support. If any customers need any further information we are on hand 24/7 on the new national number 105 or Twitter @ElectricityNW.”

Last night, the Met Office made an official ‘yellow’ warning, which means severe weather is possible over the next few days, in hilly areas.

Author: Stuart Greer

Original source & picture: http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news/gale-force-winds-cause-accidents-13149364

What is wind turbulence

/in /by

Think about chaotic movement, unstable flow of wind… this is what wind turbulence means. If still not clear… remember last time you were on an airplane there was turbulences. Not nice.

Why is so important wind turbulence in any tall construction? Very simple, assume your hands and arms are the wind and a small bar of metal is a crane. Now try to bend it applying continuous force, you will probably bend it (unless the metal bar was too big to start with!) but it is very unlikely that the bar would snap. This is a continuous and steady flow of wind.

Now bend the metal back and forwards, you will see what happens very quickly.. the metal will snap in half (eventually). This is wind turbulence for you, a chaotic pushing and pulling by the wind on any structure and that is what it makes it dangerous.

Some of the windiest places in Scotland for wind turbines (like a crane, very tall structure) where it would be the perfect place for a wind mill, wind turbulence has stop some projects going forward because this chaotic (wind turbulence) flow of wind would eventually break the structure.