This is the only picture The Diary has obtained of conditions at Ardnamurchan lighthouse last Thursday, taken by Kilchoan Early Bird. It shows the bay at the entrance to the lighthouse, with the rocks covered with spume. Davie Ferguson, the manager of the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse Trust, reports winds at the lighthouse at about 10.30am on Thursday as averaging 24 m/sec, on the border between force 9 and force 10. Shortly afterwards, with the wind rising, the electricity went off, and the anemometer ceased taking readings. Gusts therefore must have reached far higher speeds - they were certainly strong enough to knock him off his feet on three occasions. Davie says that this was the worst storm he's seen at the lighthouse.
Other evidence of the ferocity of the storm comes from these two pictures. This shows the new house at Swordle Corrach nearing completion, picture taken on 20th November....
...and this shows the same scene on 11th December, three days after the storm, with the chalet destroyed and slates stripped from the roof of the house. Wreckage was scattered eastwards, across the road that runs down the hill towards Ockle and into the fields of Swordle Farm.
I took a few pictures at the Lighthouse on the Thursday in the middle of the storm (one of them's on the Ardnamurchan Flickr group). I followed Davie Ferguson's advice and didn't get out of my car, at least not when I was exposed to the full force of the wind. It was really scary - not like any weather I've experienced before - and driving past a caravan with it's roof half off and blowing in the gale was slightly alarming!
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