Extreme Weather on Islay

This afternoon I wrote about the ferries being cancelled due to the storms that battered Islay yesterday and today. Teresa Morris from Islay Wildscapes who had planned to leave Islay today was one of the people who wasn't able to leave the island by ferry. She sent me an email tonight telling me the weather was horrendous with wind gusts up to 108mph. Today, Teresa made the best of her extra day on islay and travelled around Loch Gorm and Gruinart where she took the following pictures including her comments:

Last nights storm developed during Tuesday evening with winds from the west. In the early morning one was woken to tremendous gusts of wind accompanied by hail, thunder and lightening. The whole house was shuddering and one could feel the tremendous pressure of air on the outside of the cottage. It went on for hours peaking around 3am then slowly dying back after that. It also created an exceptionally high tide. I wonder if there have been any interesting sea birds blown in? Hopefully Jeremy Hasting of Islay Birding may find some.

This picture was taken at Braeside Bruichladdich mid afternoon. You can see the thundery hailstorm clouds sweeping across Loch Indaal and Bowmore.

This is a hailstorm squall passing across Loch Indaal to Black park mid afternoon. Its the same storm as on the previous picture. You can see there is still some snow on the Paps. I wonder what the wind speed was on the Paps last night ! Not a place to be at the height of the storm.

Many thanks Teresa for the superb "Extreme Islay Weather Pictures". This should give the readers an idea of how the weather can be on islay in the wintertime. I can only say: Wish I was there!

Tag: weather winter extreme