Microburst: June 8, 2003

Last updated: Saturday, September 24, 2005, 4:43 PM EDT

On June 8, 2003, a microburst fell upon my house in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Here are some photographs of the damage.

An apple tree uprooted near my driveway. This is after it had been trimmed a little.

Another apple tree that fell near my car. (The Ford Probe in the picture, by the way, was incapacitated by a microburst of a different sort, namely my sister.)

This image shows the two uprooted apple trees. A third apple tree, between the other two, remains standing. On the right, you can see a large part of another tree where it fell. About 1/3 of that tree is still there, though.

Here are two rickety old chestnut trees that somehow survived the microburst. Behind them is one of the uprooted apple trees, and a large chestnut branch.

Opposite side of the house. You can see a telephone pole through a clearing in the right side. Normally, you can see the whole road from this vantage point, underneath the foliage of the trees. However, there are so many downed branches, it blocks the view.

From the front porch. At least you can see the road from here, but there are numerous branches scattered about the yard.

This is a view of a maple tree in the front yard. On the right, there is a very large downed maple branch which used to be the top of the tree. (It's further away than it appears.)

Another view of the maple. Numerous scattered branches.

Here's a view of the great oak tree from the road (near the mentioned telephone pole). Numerous scattered branches.

This is the vantage point as above, panned to the right. The two hosers are the people we hired to remove the downed foliage.

A window view of the uprooted apple tree that fell near my car. Note that the car's hood doesn't shut properly, thanks to my sister.

A downed mulberry bush in the backyard.