‘What Is That Sound?’ Howling ‘Atmospheric River’ Winds Make Golden Gate Bridge ‘Sing’ – CBS Denver

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX-TV) — The howling gale forces winds, whipped up by a potent atmospheric river, whistled by way of the railing grates of the Golden Gate Bridge, creating an eerie sound monitor for the storm because it ripped by way of the San Francisco Bay Space.

The buzzing noise could be heard for miles and has been a supply of annoyance for San Francisco residents ever since a handrail retrofit, designed to make the span extra aerodynamic on gusty days, was put into place final 12 months.

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The slants are a lot narrower than the outdated handrails and vibrate in a powerful wind.

“I couldn’t actually describe the sound,” mentioned Brianne Howell of San Francisco when she first heard the noise final 12 months. “I feel I described it as wind chimes at first and, then, like if you blow right into a beer bottle. However then, like a number of beer bottles, as a result of it’s completely different tones.”

Is it a hum? A ghostly wail? A Brian Eno-style soundtrack for the world’s most stunning bridge? The noise just isn’t simple to explain. Howell had been chasing the supply since April. “What’s that sound,” she remembers asking herself strolling by way of the Presidio. “I’m form of like: am I the one one listening to this?”

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Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz with the Golden Gate Bridge District defined that the brand new railing makes the bridge extra resilient to essentially excessive wind. “The slats on the brand new hand rail are a lot thinner than the outdated hand rail which implies that air can movement extra freely throughout the bridge,” Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz mentioned.

The Golden Gate Bridge District says this was to be anticipated. Throughout design, the district performed wind tunnel exams on a scale mannequin of the bridge beneath excessive winds.

On Sunday, Mom Nature gave the bridge its personal wind take a look at with close to hurricane pressure winds. The Nationwide Climate Service issued a gale warning for the waters off the bridge.

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“Peak gusts have been round 70 mph on increased peaks with 40 to 50 mph gusts filtering into decrease areas,” the climate service mentioned. “Count on the winds to linger inside the primary rain band however reduce earlier than the rain begins to let off.”