National Weather Service issues 'small dog warning' due to wind
Dog gone? Hope you held on to those purse-size pooches in Cleveland this week.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Strong winds can blow down tree branches, move garbage cans across the street, and in true Wizard of Oz style, even blow away your little dog, too. On Tuesday, the National Weather Service in Cleveland, Ohio, added a special warning to its weather advisory.
"Hold on to your pooch!" the Cleveland NWS said in a tweet announcing that it'd put an unofficial "small dog warning" wind advisory into effect for northern Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania through Wednesday evening due to wind gusts up to 50 mph.
Hold on to your Pooch!...We have an unofficial "Small Dog Warning" Wind Advisory for northern #Ohio and NW #Pennsylvania this evening through Wednesday. Wind gusts 45 to 50 mph! A few trees may be blown down. Scattered power outages possible. #OHwx #PAwx #ThisIsCLE #CLEwx #NWS pic.twitter.com/9Az5E991cZ
— NWS Cleveland (@NWSCLE) February 12, 2019
Responding to a request for comment, the National Weather Service in Cleveland said that the dog warning was barking up the right tree.
"We did have some pretty strong wind gusts across Northern Ohio into Northwest Pennsylvania," a representative told me in an email, noting that winds reached as high as 57 mph.
But no hounds were harmed, apparently.
"We did not hear of any significant damage from the winds," the representative noted.
Twitter users were paw-sitively entertained, tweeting GIFs of startled dogs and referencing Toto from The Wizard of Oz.
— chaser (@chaser84) February 12, 2019
— Wendy (@wendykrafferty) February 12, 2019
The dog warning isn't that far-fetched. In 2009, a 6-pound Chihuahua, Tinker Bell, was picked up by a 70 mph gust of wind in Michigan and tossed out of sight, the Associated Press reported. Owners credit a pet psychic for helping them find their pup.
The weather in Cleveland looks less fur-ocious for Valentine's Day, with above-normal temperatures and winds calming down to around 18 mph.
First published Feb. 14, 1:35 p.m. PT.
Update, Feb. 15, 10:15 a.m. PT: Added quote from NWS.
