Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Freak Wind Event Injures Four at Rose Bowl Event

Carolyn Williams
Published: December 31,2014




 
A freak wind event injured four and left bystanders reeling at a Rose Bowl event in Pasadena, California, Wednesday afternoon.
The incident occurred in Lot H outside of the stadium around 1:30 p.m., according to the Pasadena Star-News.
Ryan Kittel of the National Weather Service dubbed the event a 'dust devil' after reviewing a video posted to YouTube, KTL-TV reported.
A fan video showed attendees screaming and running for cover as the 'dust devil' picked up tents and debris, tossing them across the ground. Pasadena police Lt. Marie Sell described the scene, "A strong gust of wind blew a large framed canopy up in the air," the Pasadena Star-News said.
(MORE: Meteorological Images of the Year - 2014)
Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said three people sustained minor injuries, and another had a slight finger injury, KTLA reported. Derderian further added all four were treated on scene.
Weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen noted, "It's an interesting situation, because we have a lot of Weather Underground personal weather stations near the Rose Bowl. But only one of them -- in Altadena -- showed anything gusting over 20 mph."
Wiltgen went on to describe the wind patterns in the area, "Regardless, most of the sensors near the Rose Bowl have been showing a lot of variability in wind direction today -- the winds are switching direction all over the place, even where they're not very strong. Considering the prevailing winds have been northerly, and Pasadena sits immediately south of the edge of a big mountain range -- and there's another mountain immediately west of the Rose Bowl -- I'm not surprised that the winds and terrain might interact to produce turbulence that could give rise to a dust devil like this."
The Florida State Seminoles and Oregon Ducks will be playing in this year's Rose Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015.

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