Posted for "F. Barry Knotts" <bknotts@buckeye-express.com>:

Charles,

I live in Ohio now, but was in California for many years before that.  I
was unaware of this sort of thing until I moved to Ohio.  Here we have
frequent frontal systems that come through, some fast, some slow, etc.
I have been impressed with what I have been told is the "gust front"
that precedes a frontal boundary.  The air is usually still, followed by
a wind gust or gusts that may be very strong and may cause damage.  The
gust front is typically followed shortly by rain with the frontal
passage.  The wind dies off for the rain.  I'm not a meteorologist and
don't know the physics, but perhaps the "wind storm" was a gust front
from a passing frontal system without much humidity to provide the rain.
On the other hand, without the humidity (high relative humidity) there
might not have been any latent energy available to produce the gust
front winds.  Just some thoughts.

Barry Knotts
LIV-P, Toledo, Ohio  20%