An accurate prophesy - writing this at the end of a stormy week that will forever be the benchmark comparator for exciting / scary weather. However, back to December.
So early warnings of a "weather bomb" hitting the UK with the north and west of Scotland feeling the leading edge. Forecast warned of three days of battering.
Monday 8 December was dry, bright and calm so we made the most of this and worked on the croft. Enhanced and improved a watercourse, cut down some more dead wood and generally tidied up. As darkness fell we wandered the croft, making sure everything was battened down and shutting away anything that was littering the ground and / or could take flight.
Tuesday dawned wild and windy and delivered almost 2 inches of rain. A starter for 10. It was recycling day - no sooner had the bin been dragged to the top of the drive than it had been blown over and distributed its contents everywhere. A quick collection from the mud and a nifty bit of work with a bungy cord or two made it secure. It was laid down for the bin men to pick up. During the day we gained a lovely green box from somewhere. The work done on the watercourse yesterday paid off and the house was surrounded by the sound of water flowing - safely away from us.
Wednesday was forecast to be the worst day of the storm and we were woken by gale and severe gale force winds overnight. Accompanied by thunder, lightening and torrential showers of rain. The highest gust of wind recorded here was 50.1; further north on the island a fellow weather enthusiast recorded a gust of 91.9mph before he lost his anemometer and soon after his broadband as a result of a lightening strike. This was a day for staying firmly indoors, which is what we did. The Skye bridge was open, closed, open on and off all day. Ferries cancelled and roads dangerous due to gusting winds. Our own internet was on and off all day - particularly sensitive to rain and wind combined it seems. Towards evening, wind and rain eased back. So far, the power has only flickered off briefly then back on. Seems the work done earlier in the year to improve resilience of the network had worked.
Another restless night followed with winds gusting to over 40mph. That last was so easy to write but difficult to describe the sounds of the building creaking, groaning, rattling and how you could hear the gusts building up before they hit. A roar like an express train or plane and Brace!
The house survived without noticeable effect which was pleasing considering all that glass and wood.
Thursday, back to normal service by mid-afternoon. Winds abated, rain stopped and recommence the build up to the Christmas break.
Some damage to report across the island and the highlands but nothing major, Pretty much as you were. Our only noticeable damage was to the bird feeders which took flight but were recovered.
As stated above, there was far, far worse to come. Little did we know!
Details to follow...........
No comments:
Post a Comment