Had a very interesting (and somewhat buttock-clenching!) experience last
Monday (25th June) while sailing down the SW coast of the Isle of Skye.
We were sailing about half a mile offshore in a very squally Force 7-8
NNE wind blowing at an angle off the land. Between Loch Eynort and Loch
Brittle there are high cliffs and vortices were forming as the wind blew
over the cliff edge. These vortices generated water devils (Alan White -
you know all about these in Loch Long). In Skye they are known as
"whirlies". We got hit by a couple of these getting totally drenched in
the spray. The highest I noticed on the anemometer was 45 knots but no
doubt the peak was higher. With only a pocket handkerchief size of sail
up the boat was roaring along at over 8 knots in the whirlies. Once it
became apparent that nothing catastrophic was going to happen it was
very exhilerating!

In contrast to what was happening in other parts of the country we had 2
weeks of superb weather in NW Scotland. Significant rain occurred on
only 2 days and for most of the time the visibility was more than 50
miles due to the northern origin of the air. The other result of this,
of course, is that the air was cool. I guess that the temperature was
mostly in the 10-15 deg range. In 2 weeks we had only one day with a
wind of Force 3 or more with a southerly component.

Norman
(delete "thisbit" twice to e-mail)
--
Norman Lynagh Weather Consultancy
Chalfont St Giles 85m a.s.l.
England

On Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:21:37 GMT, Norman Lynagh
wrote:

...
In Skye they are known as "whirlies".
...

Noted.

Thanks, Norman.
--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather

On 2 Jul, 17:21, Norman Lynagh normanthis...@thisbitweather-
consultancy.com wrote:
Had a very interesting (and somewhat buttock-clenching!) experience last
Monday (25th June) while sailing down the SW coast of the Isle of Skye.
We were sailing about half a mile offshore in a very squally Force 7-8
NNE wind blowing at an angle off the land. Between Loch Eynort and Loch
Brittle there are high cliffs and vortices were forming as the wind blew
over the cliff edge. These vortices generated water devils (Alan White -
you know all about these in Loch Long). In Skye they are known as
"whirlies". We got hit by a couple of these getting totally drenched in
the spray. The highest I noticed on the anemometer was 45 knots but no
doubt the peak was higher. With only a pocket handkerchief size of sail
up the boat was roaring along at over 8 knots in the whirlies. Once it
became apparent that nothing catastrophic was going to happen it was
very exhilerating!

In contrast to what was happening in other parts of the country we had 2
weeks of superb weather in NW Scotland. Significant rain occurred on
only 2 days and for most of the time the visibility was more than 50
miles due to the northern origin of the air. The other result of this,
of course, is that the air was cool. I guess that the temperature was
mostly in the 10-15 deg range. In 2 weeks we had only one day with a
wind of Force 3 or more with a southerly component.

Norman
(delete "thisbit" twice to e-mail)
--
Norman Lynagh Weather Consultancy
Chalfont St Giles 85m a.s.l.
England

Sounds similar to what is known in Shetland as a 'flan', Dave Wheeler
will probably have some anecdotes. I believe in the island of Foula a
tractor was overturned by one. There was discussion here a while back
on this effect in the Faeroe Islands, cars turned round or blown off
roads. The sailing pilot books warn of katabatic winds on the w coast
but what you describe sounds like an 'over and above effect' close
inshore.

K