Wick endures highest wind speed this century
WICK has experienced its highest wind velocity of the century with a battering westerly peak of 93 mph – 81 knots – was recorded at 6am.
The average wind speed at this time was 66 mph (57.4 knots) and violent storm-force 11 on the Beaufort scale.
This eclipses the peak gust of 92 mph (80 knots) that occurred in the town on January 29, 2000.
It was also the highest recorded since January 9, 1995, when the wind gusted up to 94.3 mph (82 knots).
Local weather watcher Keith Banks said: "In Wick the strongest winds were witnessed between 3am and 7am. The mean wind speed between these times ranged between 54 and 66 mph – severe gale-force nine to violent storm 11 on the Beaufort scale. There was also a gust of 92 mph (80 knots) at 7am.
"The storms that hammered the far north were caused by a very vigorous Atlantic depression that deepened explosively as it approached Scotland from the mid-Atlantic and tracked rapidly north-eastwards close to the north mainland of Scotland. From a meteorological perspective, this spectacular type of phenomenon is termed ‘explosive cyclogenesis’."
Wind velocities of 74 mph (63.3 knots) are deemed hurricane-force 12 on the Beaufort scale.