Working in wind

[rskybiz]

So with the few recent days of gusty winds I have wondered what others think. Out of necessity I work in wind but find at or around the 30mph ish gust I save for another day. I know the comfortable factor plays a part as does the tree.
What's comfortable to you in working a tree in the wind?
Maybe I should make a poll?

 

[MasterBlaster]

It depends on what I'm doing. Straight up and down TD's I don't mind so much but limbwalking's another story. Nyet!!! Not for me. Luckly, wind isn't a big problem here.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I am a firm believer in the comfort factor. If I feel it is too windy for comfort, I won't climb. Never have figured out the Knots or MPH factor though. Sometimes I get a goofy sea sick feeling when the pondos around me are all swaying when in one. I have to focus on the stick I am in and not the others around me

 

[SkwerI]

I've callled off a few jobs over the years due to wind. I've also worked through a couple that were quite uncomfortable. Seems like early Spring is the time of year when we get the occasional windy day here in Florida, usually March and April. With the bucket it's less of a factor unless I'm working over obstacles.

 

[pete mctree]

Quite windy where I live. Keep your back to the wind when possible& learn to use it to your advantage. Other than that try & enjoy it

 

[Tucker943]

Depends on the work. If the tree is creaking and whining, I'm out.l

 

[Frax]

Depends on how exposed the tree is to the wind and what I'm doing to it. A prune can be really exciting on a windy day as long as its not shocking gusts. A removal of a dead tree maybe not. And I wouldn't trust taking the top off a spruce during a removal in a city yard.
The wind once knocked me off an 8 foot ladder while I was hedging with the power trimmers though. It sounded like a freight train coming. Oddly, this was the same yard where later on I took a fallen spruce off the roof. Wind did it.


spruce on house by altacal, on Flickr

 

[HolmenTree]

When hand falling in logging back in the day, the foremen sent us home if too windy for safety reasons [chicots, widow makers].
But you sure could use a "good wind" to your advantage when falling timber.
Especially when your conifer timber's common lean was to the SE and you had a NW wind behind you.

I don't do aerial work in a tree on a windy day, leave that for the calm days.

 

[HolmenTree]

Depends on how exposed the tree is to the wind and what I'm doing to it. A prune can be really exciting on a windy day as long as its not shocking gusts. A removal of a dead tree maybe not. And I wouldn't trust taking the top off a spruce during a removal in a city yard.
The wind once knocked me off an 8 foot ladder while I was hedging with the power trimmers though. It sounded like a freight train coming. Oddly, this was the same yard where later on I took a fallen spruce off the roof. Wind did it.

I experienced some of those wind storms you guys got down there in southern Alberta last November. Crazy strong, I got home just in time before they peaked blowing out those high rise windows etc.

 

[emr]

We got shut down today because of the wind. 30mph sustained winds. The morning job was storm damaged silver maples totally exposed at the end of a wind tunnel. Some days we will work through it but we are kind of slow right now so we might as well hold off til tomorrow. If it was mid summer right now, we would have worked through it.

 

[Climbinfool.]

I have a 25mph stand down, especially if I'm pruning. Removals to depending on the target zone.Of course I don't carry a wind meter, so it could vary to my disadvantage.

 

[pete mctree]

Common sense & awareness of task are the key tools required to work in such conditions. We will drive around finding ourselves suitable work, thankfully we live in the world of small trees

 

[sotc]

Depends on the tree and site. We worked in some skinny oaks a few weeks back that were just moving too much. Other times your brush will drift too far, other times it helps

 

[treesandsurf]

We just did a 90ft. euc a week or so back in 20mph + winds and the tree had a maybe 60 degree lean on it. I was rigging some pieces over a woman's yard and gusts would pick up and I instinctively was reaching out and holding tight on branches around me. With the lean and the gusts, my heart rate was jumping for sure!

jp

 

[Frax]

I experienced some of those wind storms you guys got down there in southern Alberta last November. Crazy strong, I got home just in time before they peaked blowing out those high rise windows etc.

Yup. That was this event all right. Blew out windows in the downtown core. We had loads of work from it. Almost all of it mature spruce knocked over at the roots.

 

[Underwor]

30 mph is the top end of breeze in the Dakota's and probably Manitoba. Above that is wind. Strong wind starts at about 50 mph. If the wind stops up here, about half the trees fall due to lack of support on NW side.

 

[Porkbrick]

im with the consensus of "it depends". i called one job, not because i felt it was dangerous, but because having to hold on tight for a gust really slows down productivity (plus we were cold and wet and it was just getting worse). im not sure im very good at estimating wind speed, but 30 mph seems like the limit for climbing to me.

 

[Old Monkey]

I leave my earplugs in all day on windy days. The sound of wind bothers me more than getting swung around a bit.

 

[thattreeguy]

Quite windy where I live. Keep your back to the wind when possible& learn to use it to your advantage. Other than that try & enjoy it

nothing like using the wind to throw tops over obstacles

 

[canadiantreeman]

It all depends on which way the wind is blowing!!

I've worked in some winds that I probably should have just stayed home, and stayed home in winds that I probably could have gone to work in. Its like beauty, its all in the eye of the beholder.

That said, I've heard that 50kph (31mph) is the apparent wind speed at which use of aerial lifts should be strongly cautioned. Don't ask me where I heard it, and yes its possible I made it up.

 

[Birdy]

Varies for us job to job we get to call it if we aren't comfortable we don't do it. But alot of the time we will just work through it. I dont mind it so long as its not throwing me off limbs im fine.

 

[NickfromWI]

I had a foreman watching me once and he could see me grab on when a gust came. Afterwards he told me, "you know- that trees been there for 50 years. You think today is the day it's gonna break?"

Sorta made sense at the time, but I've taken enough risk assessment classes to know that "Yes, if it's going to fail soon, it's more likely to occur on a windy day!"

So then there's that.

 

[SimplyArbor]

Don't especially like working in the wind. Like most said, I go by gut feeling on the cut off point. For some reason being in big firs in the wind really creeps me out... Took a 60ft spruce top in sustained 50mph winds last winter. Wasn't too happy about it, but saved a guys office in the woods and wind was with the lay

 

[Bermy]

20-25mph is still a go for pruning. Direction is the key though.
Sometimes it depends on where the job is, you can be sheltered and work just fine in 30mph, and exposed and call it a day in 20.

Having been used to small trees, I was up 80'ish in a pine over here and the afternoon wind came up...I never realized how much a big fat tree can move in the wind, well, in your head you know it, but to acually experience it is different! the trunks on this thing were, I dunno, about 2-3' diameter and the whole thing was moving and creaking...it was unsettling at first, I was glad I was on my way down!
Like Nick said, I look at it and figure how long the blessed tree has been here already...some comfort there

 

[Tucker943]

I didn't like logging in the wind. The trees would rock and sway while cutting them. Plus, debris and widow makers shook loose all over the woods on windy days.