The endangerment part comes not due to the wind but from the dust, which blocks out the sun remarkably effectively and for extended periods of time. This is an

The endangerment part comes not due to the wind but from the dust, which blocks out the sun remarkably effectively and for extended periods of time. This is an existential threat for a solar powered probe. Opportunity won't get blown over, knocked around, nor impaled by a metal rod, but it will be (has been already) starved of power. There are key elements of the rover which require active heating, the rover is fully capable of "freezing to death" if it spends to long without power.