It’s certainly been, and still is across the west of Wales, a very windy day with coastal gales and some strong gusts on the cold front, but nothing very exceptional for a late November day. There were gale or severe gale force winds and comparable gusts for several consecutive days last week in the Northern Isles without any warning at all. You know the Met Office are trying to justify their warning when they roll out gusts from non-standard exposure, cliff top sites like Berry Head and the NeedlesNeedles A non-standard WMO class 3 anemograph site, stuck on top of a near 300 foot limestone cliff, on the Isle of Wight. Old battery. What tickles me is the UKMOUKMO The Meteorological Office is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are loathed to mention wind speeds from mountain sites such as CairngormCairn Gorm Cairn Gorm (Scottish Gaelic: An Càrn Gorm) is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. It is part of the Cairngorms range and wider Grampian Mountains. With a summit elevation of 1,245 m (4,085 ft) above sea level, Cairn Gorm is classed as a Munro and is the seventh-highest mountain in the British Isles. but have no qualms at all using readings made atop a 300 foot chalk cliff.
As for today’s rainfall totals [06-18] nothing that excessive either, even if most of it was on the front itself. The warning mentioned 10 to 15 mm in 1 to 2 hours and 20 to 25 mm in a few places, both too excessive. There was just 0.2 mm here in the NENE North East of Scotland.
If the UKMO can take a hard line with the issuing of warnings in Scotland why can’t they do the same for everywhere else?
It seems we’re fast becoming a Nanny State even with regard to weather.