DAMN WIND!

Living in Utah is very interesting. Besides the different culture here, the weather also is interesting. Salt Lake City sits in the mountains about 1650 meters high. On the West side of the city is the Great Salt Lake. A large lake that is more salty than the ocean. Sometimes, the lake even looks like an ocean from the beach. But there are no fish in this lake because of the high salt content. However, there are small shrimp that do live in the lake.
On the West side of the city are the mountains. These mountains are filled with snow and ski resorts. There are about 10 ski resorts that are less then a 40 minute drive from downtown Salt Lake. The mountains are beautiful all year round. But one thing I hate about Salt Lake and the surrounding areas is the DAMN WIND.
Many times a year we have the “East Wind”. This is the wind that comes out of the East from the Mountains. These winds are very very strong. They sometimes cause a lot of damage to homes and other things. But one thing the East Winds almost always do is knock out our electric power to our homes. It’s very frustrating. This happened again the other night. I have never lived in a place where the power is out so much. It’s crazy. Sometimes I feel I am camping in my own home. So one thing I really hate about living in Utah is that the power goes out so often. But I guess it can’t be helped so much because of the climate and wind conditions here. Still, I wonder if other cities have so much trouble with power.
I lived in Hokkaido for many years with blizzards and the power never went out. But the East Winds in Utah are much stronger than any blizzard in Hokkaido. I had a very good friend who worked at Hokkaido Electric (Hokuden). She told me once that when the power goes out it is usually only out for a few minutes. The problem is quickly found and power is restored. Here… not quick. The power is usually out for hours. Last year it was even out for a couple days….. Not fun.