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The closest thing I've experienced was Tropical Storm Fay

Message from Keith Winter Haven FL

We had high winds for 3 days (20-30 with gusts to 45), As the center passed over JAX, we had 35-45 sustained with gusts to 65-70. It wasn't as high as yours, and we didn't lose power, though it flickered a bit. The first day it was exciting, the second tiring, and third was exhausting. Our tall, skinny southern pines bent and swayed like 80-100' tall grass, but few broke. I considered us pretty lucky. Univ of FL says those skinny pines do pretty well until the winds reach about 110, then they fail.

One other time, we had an EF-0 or EF-1 tornado pass through the neighborhood. The south side of the circulation passed right over the house. There was no place to shelter and the house was built to hurricane codes, so i stood at the sliding glass door facing east and watched as it passed. The 100' slash pines across the pond caught the wind like sails causing them to bend away from my home. I couldn't believe how far they bent without breaking. One gust pushed them past 45 degrees from vertical allowing a broad view of the eastern sky that was typically obscured. Luckily it was just one huge gust and only lasted a few seconds, & none of the trees broke. I suspect that gust was very near 100 mph at the tree tops. In fact, our street had large pine forests all around and they absorbed that brief, strong wind event so well that even the potted porch plants didn't blow over! However, In other areas of our neighborhood where the forest had been removed with only a few remnant trees left, many trees broke. One house was impaled by the top of a large pine that managed to fall butt end first. It hit the garage roof and no one was injured. But it was an exciting afternoon!


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