The wind howled through the night. Our wind meter shows a peak of 81.7 mph shortly after 2 a.m. With daylight approaching, we wait in nervous anticipation to view the carnage that may face us outside. Did our shingles survive? I know at least one shutter was loosened by the wind while branches and debris litter the landscape.

According to the news, more than 20,000 homes in the region lost power. We didn’t but the backup generator remains on standby in case the power does fail.

The wind was supposed to die down by 6 a.m. At 5:30, the National Weather Service extended the high wind warning until 7:15. It is now 7:30 and the winds are a sustained 37 mph with gusts to over 50.

And we thought moving out of Washington would get us away from blowhards.

UPDATE: The weather folks just amended the wind warning to say the winds would “diminish gradually” through the day but remain strong “along the Blue Ridge south of Roanoke.”

And, of course, we live in the “Blue Ridge south of Roanoke.”

UPDATE II: Good news is no missing shingles. Looks like the roof survived the blow. Two loose shutters. Can fix when the wind finally dies down. Bad news is DirectTV dish is loose, which explains why we’ve lost all but the local channels. It will need realignment.

Could have been worse.