Scary Loch Indaal

Two rather scary pictures of Loch Indaal in threatening weather - taken yesterday.  Neither have been processed at all - they are straight off the HTC - which does tend to exaggerate the contrasts a bit....  Carl

Waves hitting Port Charlotte Pier

Waves hitting Port Charlotte pier a couple of minutes ago.

Grey and White

We really have had a very difficult period of weather recently.  Today the wind abated for a while, but it rained very heavily shortly after this photograph was taken, probably melting the snow off the hills, much of which was probably ice from hailstorms anyway.  I cannot personally recall having had so many hailstorms as we have seen in the past couple of weeks.
The relatively benign, if wet, conditions we have right now are about to disappear with winds gusting to 55 mph forecast for Wednesday and 74mph for Thursday.
Carl

Stormy weather

There's a lot of weather about at the moment. In the last few days, we've had gales with gusts up to 60 mph, lightning and thunder, hail, heavy rain squalls, drizzle, mist, low cloud, and occasional bursts of sun, and so all the usual components of late autumn/early winter on Islay.
The sun broke through just now (Sunday pm) and produced this rainbow while close by yet another squall was passing over Bowmore.
Malcolm

Wave - Port Charlotte earlier today

That was a very wild day indeed.  Most unusual for May.  Much calmer now and the power is now restored after having been off on the Rhinns most of the day...
Carl

Two trees

Found on a walk this afternoon, both showing the effect of Islay's climate: the Hawthorn with its abundance of lichens (most if not all Ramalina farinacea) growing in our moist but very pure air (lichens don't grow well in polluted air), and a Birch shaped by the wind.
Malcolm

It's really grim out there today!

So said Carl yesterday and, sadly, his comment is still true today. Here's a photograph I took from the house just now - with a comparison with what it looks like in better weather.
Malcolm

Shooting suspended due to cold weather

British Association for Shooting and Conservation

Great weather forecast - Loch Indaal Lighthouse and the Paps of Jura

After two days of difficult weather it is great to have some sunshine and a decent weather forecast for the weekend.  Not to mention some food in the Co-op.  Its hard, living without bananas...
Carl

Big winds and a Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)

We have another big depression moving through at the moment with winds currently around 33mph but forecast to rise to a peak of around 48mph by 09.00hrs tomorrow morning.   Ferries were cancelled this afternoon and there would appear to be little chance of ferries tomorrow morning either.

We have added an atlantic weather chart from Meteorologica to the bottom of the blog which is updated every 60 minutes or so which will give an overview of the weather systems heading our way.  Just click on the map to go to the Meteorologica home page.

I heard from Ian who had heard from Bob who had heard from John that there was a Grey Phalarope seen at Carnain, the infamous 'Smelly Corner' two days ago.  I stopped by on the bike yesterday and saw it quite briefly and well before it flew off.  A very very attractive bird, swimming daintily and picking impossibly minute titbits from the surface of the water before taking off and heading to the other side of the lagoon.  But what a flight - a wonderful butterfly-like aerial mince across the surface, long winged and impossibly elegant. 

It was back again today - in exactly the same place, this time staying put for as long as I wanted, pirouetting, spinning on its axis as if it was clockwork driven rather than an animate being.  You would think it would get dizzy. 

It will not be wanting to move far in these winds - so it will definitely be worth a look when things calm down - which is not forecast until Thursday afternoon.

Photo: Devon Bird News

Carl

Weather update

The wind speed is certainly increasing on Islay, but is still not particularly severe by our standards.  SSE have assured us that they have a contingency plan in place to cover the event of extended ferry cancellations so our electricity supplies are secure.  The 09.45 sailing from Kennacraig this morning that failed to get into Port Ellen returned to Kennacraig without calling at Port Askaig.  
Carl

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/

Weather issues - Port Charlotte pier a few minutes ago

Islay is currently one of the areas of the UK least affected by the severe gale-force winds that are buffeting these islands.  Things could get quite interesting though because both Port Askaig and now Port Ellen have been damaged by collisions with ferries.  The 09.45 ex Kennacraig has just failed to dock in Port Ellen and may be heading to Port Askaig to let passengers (only) off if required before heading back to Kennacraig with all vehicles still on board.  Including the fuel tanker which it is believed is required to keep the power station running in Bowmore.  The island is currently using a diesel generator for power because the cable connecting us to the mainland is also damaged. 

The 18.00 hrs departure to Islay from Kennacraig this evening will be to Port Askaig and be passenger only.

Winds of over 70mph are expected on Islay by around 19.00hrs

The calm before the storm

We had a lovely calm morning here on Islay this morning - but the weather forecast is for things to build up throughout the day until the winds reach above 50mph this evening, accompanied by very heavy rain.  I thought it might be interesting to take a little bit of "before and after" video of the burn that flows down the glen from the Gearach, down through Bruaich Jerich and past the Wildlife Centre.  The clips above show it at fairly normal autumn levels - but we would expect to see a significant rise over the next 24 hours if the forecast is correct - and it usually is....

I will try and get up into Bruaich Jerich again around lunchtime tomorrow and see what it looks like then....

Severe gales of the type that are forecast for this evening are completely normal for this time of year here.