Why does nobody talk about the wind at the 200 foot mark?

I was on a job in Kansas City last week, setting steel for a new warehouse. I've been running a tower crane for about 8 years now, and I always trusted the wind meter on the ground. My load was a 12-ton beam, and everything felt fine from the cab. But when I got it up to the top, maybe 220 feet, the load started to swing and dance in a way the ground meter just didn't show. My spotter on the radio finally said, 'It's a whole different breeze up here, Jess.' That was the lightbulb. I was relying on a tool that wasn't telling me the full story for the part of the lift that mattered most. Now I'm thinking I need a second meter up high, or at least to watch the flags on nearby buildings way more. Has anyone else set up a better system for reading wind at height?

4 comments

4 Comments

jamiehayes1mo ago

Hold up, is this really a common problem? I get that wind changes with height, but on a normal clear day, is the difference at 200 feet enough to turn a safe lift into a dangerous one? Most of those ground meters have a factor built in for height, right? I've seen guys fly flags on the crane jib itself as a cheap check. Seems like if it was a major issue, the safety rules would already require a high-up sensor. Maybe you just hit a weird gust that day.

jenny_white211mo ago

Forget weird gusts, the math is scary simple. Wind speed can increase by 20% or more every 100 feet you go up. So your 10 mph breeze on the ground is easily 15 mph or higher at the hook. That extra force on a big sail of a load is huge. Those ground meter corrections are just guesses for normal weather, not for real site conditions. A flag on the jib tells you direction, but not if you're already over the limit the second you start the lift.

julias441mo ago

Yeah, that "flag on the jib" check Jamie mentioned is exactly what we used to do. @jenny_white21 is totally right though, it shows direction but not force. We got caught once where the ground wind felt fine, but the load started spinning bad once it got up there. Now we use a cheap handheld meter and take a reading from the highest safe point we can reach before the lift, like from a manlift or the roof. It's not perfect but it gives a way better number than just guessing from the ground. What do you guys do to check the wind up high?

beng517d ago

Jenny_white21 nailed it with that math, its crazy how fast wind picks up as you go higher. I had almost the same thing happen on a hotel job in Denver last year, 180 feet up with a concrete panel and it felt like a kite. The ground meter said 8 mph but my load was swinging bad enough my spotter called it off. Now I do what julias44 said, I take a handheld meter up in a manlift to the highest spot I can reach before the lift. It aint perfect but its way better than trusting the ground. That 12 ton beam Jess mentioned, yeah I bet it was spinning like a top up there.