What is a blowdown?
Blowdown refers to windthrow and windsnap. Windthrow is a naturally occurring event, and it is common in areas habitating plants with large canopies, or sails, such a multiple-armed saguaro. Windthrow is when the entire plant, including its root structure, is uprooted by the wind. Windsnap is when the plant experiences breakage or is snapped along its trunk.

With the blowdown experienced in the west district of Saguaro National Park, current estimates suggest around 1,200 saguaros were knocked over, or they lost arms or had their tops sheared off.

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As of 9/14/2023, over 1,200 saguaros have been counted that have either blown down, or lost arms or their tops, during the storm. The area affected has now been covered thoroughly enough to get a strong idea of the extent of damage caused by this event. Park biologists are working to determine what percentage of those kinds of damage these saguaros saw, but the majority appear to have been completely uprooted, or windthrown.