West Cornwall - Severe Gale

66 views
Skip to first unread message

Graham Easterling

unread,
Dec 27, 2020, 4:24:58 AM12/27/20
to Weather and Climate
The wind reached force out around midnight even in sheltered Penzance. The 1st gale since 10th February (a very long gap for this location) and the gust of 53mph the highest of the year.

78mph recorded at Lands End, and a similar value at St Ives. So at last a gale worth the name! A tree down in the wasteland next to my house.

A good example today of why the way that wave buoy data is commonly reported is misleading.

Currently at Sevenstones at Lands End

2020-12-27 09_14_08-Capture.png
A 10 second period, biggish wave but low energy short period? Well no, dig down into the data at the nearest buoy that gives more useful information (off Perranporth on the north coast of west Cornwall.)

2020-12-27 09_13_11-Capture.png

The energy is concentrated in two swells, with 12 & 14 second periods. Because of the locally generated low energy short period 'wind' wave, the crude averaging at Sevenstones, and other wave buoys, presents a rather meaningless picture. There is no indication of the current huge power of the long period swell.

For comparison, yesterday at Perranporth. The swell is 6X more powerful today, even though the wave height is not much greater.

2020-12-26 10_20_47-Capture.png
 
Yesterday the low energy wind waves were dominant.

Graham
Penzance

Graham Easterling

unread,
Dec 27, 2020, 4:41:36 AM12/27/20
to Weather and Climate
The wind reached force out around midnight  

Force 8!

Graham

Ken Cook

unread,
Dec 27, 2020, 5:48:04 AM12/27/20
to Weather and Climate
Hi, Graham,
Thought you'd become a Yorkshireman overnight. Force owt or force nowt!
Ken

Graham Easterling

unread,
Dec 27, 2020, 11:05:03 AM12/27/20
to Weather and Climate

Thought you'd become a Yorkshireman overnight.  

I thought it took a lifetime!

Shower passing Mousehole this morning. 

mhshowersm.jpg

The showers have been brief, plenty of hail mixed in.

Tudor Hughes

unread,
Dec 27, 2020, 11:43:08 AM12/27/20
to Weather and Climate
Rather nicer here at the moment.  Wind W force 2 - cloudless - temp 2.9°C.  A weather nut, asked to guess the pressure, would have probably said something like 1030 mb but the actual figure is 973 mb.  That makes it rather difficult to explain to an interested layman what use a barometer is in forecasting the weather.  Much windier overnight, typically force 6 which is unusual here, and 22.5 mm rain, bringing the month's total to 138.6 mm.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, NE Surrey, 557 ft, 170 m.

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages