Wind Alert (03/14/2026)

Yesterday, when I woke up it was still dark outside, but I could hear the wind. It was whipping around my home and whistling through the trees. It was so strong that the windows rattled. And I remembered I needed to go to a meeting in the town nearly 20 miles away. I stopped in my tracks. I don’t like driving on windy days.

I have my reasons. In the early 1990s I was driving on the Madison Beltline on a very windy day. Directly ahead of me in the middle lane was an ABS truck full of pallets. It was rush hour. There were cars in the lane to my left and to my right. The belt holding the pallets whipped around in the wind and then suddenly it snapped, and the pallets came flying right at me. Luckily, it didn’t do too much damage, but it thoroughly scared me.

Then about five years later, I was driving the beltline again on a windy day. It was “moving” weekend; students had just wound-up classes at UW-Madison and they were moving home or to their next location. I found myself behind a pickup hauling a trailer full of a student’s dorm furnishing and amenities when the belt holding everything down snapped in the wind. Everything came tumbling out of the trailer onto the road. I swerved to dodge the exercise bike but ran over the metal dumbbell and it blew out my front tire.

And about six years after that, I was coming home from my work at the diocesan offices. There was so much traffic. The wind was horrible. I made it through the beltline without incident. I made it through the short trek on 90-94 without incident. I was feeling good about the drive and thinking about how good it would be to get home. I turned off 90-94 north onto Highway 151 into Sun Prairie and within 100 yards saw the truck hauling furniture. I laughed to myself, “I hope he’s got that stuff tied down well.” But it soon proved irrelevant because the tailgate on his truck broke and everything came flying at me in my car and the other cars around me. I was able to dodge the dresser and drawers and table. The fellow to my right was not so lucky.

Yesterday, before I got on the road, I prayed to the LORD for safe travel and asked for the special intercession of the Archs (Michael to keep me from harm and from doing harm; Raphael to guide me on the best path; Gabriel to help me bring the message of Christ’s love wherever I go). I hit the road headed toward the interstate when the wind whipped my car in its lane. I felt the nudge and instantly decided I would avoid the multiple lane roads and travel the back roads with fewer trucks. And I prayed as I went. And would you believe it? There wasn’t a single vehicle in front of me all the way there and not a single vehicle in sight in my lane all the way home. When I arrived home, I parked the car and immediately began my prayer of thanksgiving.

Yep, windy days are not my favorite! A bonus though – I tend to pray more!

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.