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I have a question whether you can use past continuous tense in a certain sentence.

When you are describing the wind that was blowing when you left home, can you say this?

As I left home, the wind was blowing hard.

I wasn't sure if you can use past continuous tense in the main clause when the dependent clause begins with "as." So I looked in the dictionaries and couldn't find any sentences like that. Should the sentence be written like this instead?

As I left home, the wind blew hard.

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    It depends entirely what you mean. In , say, As he left, the clock was striking twelve, the implication is at least some peals had already been struck at the moment he left. But As he left, the clock struck twelve implies the first peal rang out at the same time as (or immediately after) he started to leave.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 27, 2021 at 12:09

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We use continuous tenses to describe things that are happening before, during and after a point in time. as describes such a point in time, so it is OK to use past continuous:

As I left home, the wind was blowing hard.

This indicates that the wind was blowing before you left home, at the time you left home, and afterward.

As I left home, the wind blew hard.

The simple past version would indicate that the wind blew briefly at the exact moment that you left home.

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