Gusts to Hurricane Force

One would never guess that the little muddle of surface winds just to the south of Newfoundland at midday today - circled on this clip from Cameron Beccario's imaginative website (here) - is forecast to strike NW Scotland, and particularly the far north, with gale force winds carrying gusts to hurricane force.

The only website which has consistently forecast this is XC Weather.  Both YrNo and the BBC have steadily modified their predictions as the week has gone by, with the BBC now issuing an amber warning for high winds gusting to force 12.

Nor would one guess from looking out across the Sound that, in the next few hours, the mean wind speed is set to rise to storm force 10 (according to Yr No) by 3.00am tomorrow morning.

We enjoyed some bright, sunny weather today, mixed in with a few hail showers, but the temperature has remained low - a maximum of 7C even in the sunshine.  Picture shows a kestrel hovering over the field at the back of the Ferry Stores at lunch time with a curlew passing it.