Five Things To Do When It’s Windy as Hell in South Dakota

This spring in South Dakota the weather has given us some nice days and some not-so-nice days. One thing it has been very generous with is the wind.

The wind has been so nuts that on some of the windiest days the wind turbines in the region are not turning. We learned that this is done for a few reasons, one of which is if the winds are strong enough, they can actually damage the turbine. Other reasons include an oversupply of electricity to the grid and also maintenance.

But for those of us who aren't directly involved with wind turbines, the wind can be so maddening it can make you crazy. Here are some things to do to help embrace the madness of crazy winds.

Learn your 40-yard-dash time by chasing your hat

I wear hats every day. I prefer to wear fitted hats because they don't feel like they are crushing my skull. The drawback of that is if the wind gets under the bill, aerodynamics take over and send the hat on a flight about as long as a turkey can fly, but then it just rolls until it hits something or you catch it after a long sprint. Have fun with it and see if you can time how long it takes to go catch it.

Meet your neighbors by returning their mail that blew out of the mailbox into your bushes

This literally happened at our house. An envelope was hung up in the bushes in front of our house. It was to be delivered a block away.

Clean out your car by opening doors on both sides

I'm not advocating littering, but it is an interesting thing to see both of your car doors open and watch receipts you didn't know were still in your car go flying into the atmosphere.

Go bird watching to see them fly backward

Have you ever seen this on a really windy day? On Saturday when gusts were as high as 70 miles per hour in some places, I was driving west on I-90 east of Sioux Falls and drove under a medium-sized bird of some kind trying to fly south but it just hovered in the same place. As I got close to it, it gave up and glided into the north ditch.

Destroy your kids' kites that they got for Easter

For some reason, kites are a thing given to kids for Easter. Those kites are usually flimsy and made from the same material as cheap store brand garbage bags and cheaper and more flimsy store brand plastic eating utensils. They also take up a lot of space and are almost impossible to store. So on the windiest of days, help your kid fly it, wreck it, or watch it fly away.

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