In 2018, a windstorm with fierce gales up to 75 miles per hour hit Helena and nearby towns – one of the most ferocious windstorms ever to hit the area. The winds blew off roofs, blasted fences, and sent trampolines 20 feet into the air and bounding down the street.
They also toppled 50-foot blue spruce trees all over town. Personally, that was my first experience in large tree-failure clean-up, and it was a humbling one: seeing 80-year-old trees tipped over like dominoes.
At the same time, it was a unique opportunity to evaluate the trees that fell and learn from them. Why did they fail, which species failed the most, why did one tree fall while its neighbor stood tall? The 2018 storm gave us a taste of just how vulnerable many of our trees were.
