Keiss weather station damaged by gales
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A CARAVAN at Keiss containing weather-monitoring equipment had its roof ripped off in “horrendous” hurricane-strength winds which battered Caithness over the weekend.
Gusts of around 80 mph were recorded in the early hours of Sunday morning resulting in damage to properties and minor travel disruption.
Paula Fisher (44), of Caithness Weather, who uses data from the station at Keiss to compile local forecasts, said conditions were “truly horrendous”.
Her meteorological colleague, John Dawes, who operates the equipment in the village, was shocked when the station was left exposed to the elements.
“The wind bowed the caravan that much it appears to have loosened the staples and it blew a section of the roof about a quarter of a mile away,” Mrs Fisher told the Caithness Courier.
“My husband and some friends went and retrieved it after I got a call from a lady saying that she thought our weather station roof was stuck on her fence.”
Mrs Fisher uses data from six weather stations around the county to publish real-time updates to her website, www.tugmistress.co.uk
She said: “The gentleman at Reay, who operates our furthest west station, recorded something like 54 mph as the highest gust, but he is quite sheltered so it would have been higher.
“I recorded 76.2 mph in Scrabster and down at Dunbeath – our most exposed station – the gent recorded 78 mph.”
In the aftermath of the stormy conditions, Mrs Fisher’s Facebook page has been a hive of activity as locals post photos of damage.
Runaway trampolines, escaped sheds and overturned shelters feature in the catalogue of damage.
In Wick, meanwhile, the winds stripped the old police station in Victoria Place of its roof, with the loose material trapping two cars in the adjacent car park.
Sergeant Grant McDowall said there had been several incidents reported across the North.
“We had reports of a few trees coming down and a couple of problems with power lines and pylons around the county,” he said.
“Other than the old police station roof – which was reported at 5.30am on Sunday morning – it was a case of a bit of damage here and there such as Christmas lights hanging down after coming a bit loose in Wick and Thurso.” Wick weather watcher Keith Banks said during the early hours of Sunday the town was hit by the most violent winds recorded since January 11, 2005.
He said between 4.20am and 6am severe gale-force nine to storm-force 10 westerly winds exceeded 58 mph and gusted up to hurricane-force 12. A peak gust of 81 mph occurred at the height of the storms at about 5.30am.
Despite damage to property there were only a few disruptions to travel services. NorthLink ran a curtailed service due to the weather but was back to schedule by Monday, while Pentland Ferries cancelled two sailings on Sunday. Normal service resumed on Monday.
A spokeswoman for Stagecoach in Caithness said: “Despite adverse weather over the weekend our services suffered only minor delays.”
Appeal to fix weather station
WEATHER watcher John Dawes is appealing for help to fix the Keiss weather station that was damaged in the high winds over the weekend.
He is currently seeking 12mm counter battens, adhesive flashing tape and some fabric roofing felt to repair the roof of the station.
If you can help, telephone Mr Dawes on 07530 546 616.
