The Aftermath of a Storm: 55 Years Later

Published by Ralph Brandt
September 1, 2009, Category: Meteorology

A storm ravaged this uninhabited mountain area in the early fifties. Now I take a look at the residuals of that storm.

I can’t pinpoint the exact year but between 1953 and 1955 a storm passed through this area. It crossed the Pine Grove Road (PA 233) between Pine Grove Furnace and the Shippensburg Road. I am providing exact locations the GPS coordinates as I show the pictures.

The one end (southwest end) of the damaged area is at 39° 59′ 17″ N 77° 22′ 51 W and altitude 1435 Feet. I am showing the eXplorist 200 in this picture to show how I recorded this information. This GPS unit is actually on the ground along the side of PA 233.

DSC_2197-42.jpg

Picture by Author

To give a perspective of the view I have included a Google Earth view of the area with two push pins on PA 233 that show the end points on the road of the damaged area. The south west end is near an access road, the north east end near an ATV trail. Both can be seen in the Google view. This is approximately 570 yards (521 m). I have also drawn what I believe is the area the storm damage with a Google Earth path on the view. I do not know which way the storm was moving.

Storm1

Google Earth image noted by the Author

Let’s look at the area from ground level.

DSC_2198-43.jpg

Picture by Author

This picture is taken facing bearing 20 degrees (NNE – toward Pine Grove) from the point 39° 59′ 17″ N 77° 22′ 51 W – the south west push pin. It shows one large tree in the background and other smaller trees in the foreground. The tree in the background is much older and taller than the ones near us including the one on the right edge of the picture. At the time of the storm nearly all of the mature trees were destroyed. A very few of the very solid ones remained and some of the very small ones survived. This may be a clue as to the nature of the storm. Generally the destroyed trees were blown over at the roots, not snapped higher in the trunk.

Read more in Meteorology

« What is St Elmo’s Fire?

Understanding Humidity, Air Pressure, Wind Speed and Direction »

DSC_2199-44.jpg

Picture by Author

This picture is taken facing bearing 45 (NE) from the 39° 59′ 17″ N 77° 22′ 51 W – the south west push pin. It shows the one large tree in the background to the left which we saw in the previous picture and other smaller trees in the foreground. But on the right half of the picture we see two larger trees, one on each side of the road. If we look at this we will see that one tree on eath side of the road survived at that point. On the left side most trees were destroyed, on the right most or all survived.

DSC_2202-47.jpg

Picture by Author

This picture is taken facing bearing 225 (SW – toward Shippensburg Road) from the 39° 59′ 17″ N 77° 22′ 51 W – the south west push pin. I have my back to the car in the previous picture. It shows four large trees along the north side of the road – the side that if we look the other way shows few large trees. The storms devastation apparently stopped rather abruptly in this interval. There may have been some damage to the right of the motorcycle in the picture but not to several trees along the road. A hunting cabin to the left of the picture had no visible damage at the time.

DSC_2203-48.jpg

Picture by Author

This is a much better picture of the four trees shown in the previous picture. Note the size of the trunks. I can’t be sure but it appears that the right side of the trees, away from the road may have lost limbs, look at how they have limbs that extend across the road but few that go the opposite way.

DSC_2210-55.jpg

Picture by Author

Here is another view that shows the smaller trees with one large one in the background. This is the norm for various views in this area.

DSC_2219-64.jpg

Picture by Author

This picture is taken from across the road from at 39° 59′ 17″ N 77° 22′ 51 W and shows large trees in the area, unlike the other side of the road.

DSC_2220-65.jpg

Picture by Author

We have now moved from the south west end to just beyond the north east end of the area. You can see the mature trees on the right half of the picture. But I am looking nearly due North – away from the storm area. 39° 59′ 28″ N 77° 22′ 35 W

DSC_2221-66.jpg

Picture by Author

This is a view on bearing approximate 335 (WNW) from the same point as the previous picture. With the slight turn we see smaller trees but none of the larger ones. 39° 59′ 28″ N 77° 22′ 35 W

DSC_2222-67.jpg

Picture by Author

Here we are at the north east point along PA 233 where the ATV trail crosses. We can see two large trees in the foreground but nothing else of size shows. We would here have been on the edge of the storm.

39° 59′ 28″ N 77° 22′ 35 W

DSC_2223-68.jpg

Picture by Author

The GPS gives the location. I try to put it down, take a shot of it and then take as many pictures as possible from that location so I have a reference.

DSC_2225-70.jpg

Picture by Author

Here looking from the road to the north west we see mostly smaller trees and brush. At the edge of the picture there is a larger double tree with the one trunk snapped about 15 feet from the ground. Although most trees were blown over near the South west end of the storm the north east end had some snapped trees.

DSC_2226-71.jpg

Picture by Author

This view from the same point panned just about half a frame to the left shows the same pattern, large trees along the road but none deeper into the woods.

DSC_2227-72.jpg

Picture by Author

Here we see the pattern further along the road, with almost no large trees.

DSC_2228-73.jpg

Picture by Author

And here is another that shows the same pattern. For someone who grew up in this area, this would appear to be an area that was logged about 40-70 years ago.