Gusty Winds Will Not Impact San Francisco Fireworks
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- High winds battered San Francisco Bay on New Year's Eve, but they likely won't disrupt Monday night's fireworks show over the Embarcadero.
"They are kinda old school," said pyrotechnician Jeff Thomas, looking over the firing controls for Monday night's show. "They've got a whole new generation that kinda looks more Ferrari looking with LED lights and things."
Thomas, who designs shows for Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, has been setting off fireworks over the San Francisco skyline for 30 years. So how do high winds affect explosive projectiles?
"These things are pretty robust," Thomas said of the fireworks themselves. "They might move a little bit, but they're gonna stay in the line of trajectory."
While the shells manage the wind fairly well, Thomas said wind can have a bigger effect on what the shells are launched from.
"It's more now we're relying on the barge and tug company to have the experience of being out on the bay in this type of weather, let them decide what we may need to do a little differently," Thomas said.
The challenge Monday night, Thomas said, will be getting the barge to stay in the precise spot for the show's 15-minute duration.
"When we submit all of our paperwork we have a latitude and longitude, a location we're planning to park the barge, and we may need to adjust that based on the wind and the direction," he said.