Windy Caithness.....or perhaps just hot air

[kmahon2001]

I came across this comment on another thread..........

snip......Crickets as rare in caithness as a heatwave without wind.
I've heard this kind of comment so many times before - that Caithness is known for it's winds. I'm not so sure.

I haven't found Caithness to be particularly windy. I've been here a little over 2 years now - the first year in Portskerra which, being on the coast, was definitely windy, but the second year I've spent in Halkirk, which isn't particularly windy at all. Maybe Caithness's reputation for being windy is more to do with the coastal areas than Caithness as a whole - inland certainly doesn't seem to be effected by high winds except when it's windy over the whole country and here in Halkirk all too often there's not even a faint stirring of the air, which of course then brings out the midges in their masses.

I must admit this is a slight disappointment for me. I don't like hot weather and one reason I was looking forward to moving here was because I believed that if the weather turned hot, at least it would be windy to take the sting out of the heat and stop it being too humid, but in Halkirk it gets hot and humid (my two pet hates in weather terms). In hindsight I probably would have been better moving to the coast rather than inland, but I didn't know that when I bought my house. I didn't expect Halkirk to be as windy as right on the coast but I thought, being just a few miles inland, we'd at least benefit from some effect of the sea breezes. Sadly this doesn't seem to be the case. :~(

Having said that, there are so many good things about Caithness as a whole, and Halkirk in particular, that the slight disappointment with the weather is a minor concern only. Caithness is a great place to live and I wouldn't go back down South for anything. :D

[crayola]

I don't like hot weather and one reason I was looking forward to moving here was because I believed that if the weather turned hot, at least it would be windy to take the sting out of the heat and stop it being too humid, but in Halkirk it gets hot and humid (my two pet hates in weather terms).
Good grief, this must be a first, I've never before heard anyone complaining about the weather in Caithness being too hot and humid! :eek:

Classic post, I love it. :D

[badger]

You need to live on a hill if not by the coast. Believe me that can be very, very windy.

[teddybear1873]

You need to live on a hill if not by the coast. Believe me that can be very, very windy.

Dunnet Head for example.

[Alice in Blunderland]

One of the things my husband loves about Caithness is the weather. :)

He hates the heat. :eek:

[The Oracle]

......but in Halkirk it gets hot and humid (my two pet hates in weather terms).

Sorry but you have not lived in Halkirk long enough for such a sweeping statement. Halkirk in the winter gets colder than most other parts of Caithness and it does get windy.....how else would we get our washing dried !!!!

[gleeber]

Wind, hot air and Halkirk.
Just a perfect mix. :lol:

[The Oracle]

Wind, hot air and Halkirk.
Just a perfect mix. :lol:

Would that be blowing from your direction ?????

[Mystical Potato Head]

Sorry but you have not lived in Halkirk long enough for such a sweeping statement. Halkirk in the winter gets colder than most other parts of Caithness and it does get windy.....how else would we get our washing dried !!!!

Agreed big time,Halkirk is without doubt the frost pocket of Caithness.Driving to work in the winter it is amazing how many mornings are frost free until you get to about 500yards from Halkirk and everything turns white and with the area being reasonably flat it is rather windy too but its like any other place..when its windy its windy,when its calm its calm.

[kmahon2001]

Sorry but you have not lived in Halkirk long enough for such a sweeping statement. Halkirk in the winter gets colder than most other parts of Caithness and it does get windy.....how else would we get our washing dried !!!!

I didn't say it doesn't get windy in Halkirk, just that it's only windy when it's windy everywhere else in the country. There isn't the constant wind that people seem to imply is there in Caithness, or that there certainly was when I was in Portskerra - I could count the number of still days we had in Portskerra on one hand, but in Halkirk there's so many of them I've lost count altogether.

Also, I don't have a problem with the weather in the winter, I love cold frosty days, and I love snow. My problem is with how hot and humid it gets in the summer compared to the coast. It was certainly hot and humid this summer and last summer (I moved here in June 2008 so I've lived through 2 summers here). It was over 4 degrees higher in Halkirk than on the coast during the hot weather (not that the hot weather lasted very long or happened very frequently the past couple of years!)

[bekisman]

Looks like a fair blow hitting us on Tuesday 19.00 - 22.00

[George Brims]

Having moved from Caithness to Californa, I can tell you Caithness is a pretty windy place. I always get a laugh out of our TV weather people here describing the next winter low pressure system coming down from Alaska as a "storm". A storm is what lifted my Uncle Douglas's almost new farm building completely off its foundations and dumped it about 50 yards to the north.

I also recall trying to go fishing on Watten Loch one sunny afternoon without an outboard motor. We couldn't get out as none of us could row hard enough to fight the head wind. Well we got out about 50 yards maybe, but by that time all three of us were exhausted. What convinced us to go back in was the blokes who did have a motor, and they could barely get out either!

As for "a heatwave without wind", that's what we've had in California the last ten days, and that's what made the fire you will have seen on TV so bad - it went outwards in all directions at once. To give you over there a sense of scale, the area burned is now just over 1/3 of Caithness. It's been stopped on three sides but still moving east. It's mostly wilderness, but last time I went through that area it was very bonny wilderness. A damn shame. Plus of course there was the loss of the two firefighters, which makes the arsonist a murder. The last arsonist who killed firefighters (5 of them) is sitting on death row.

[Tugmistress]

Looks like a fair blow hitting us on Tuesday 19.00 - 22.00

certainly does look that way, will check charts again tomorrow but looking like building from lunch time, the worst of it gusting to maybe 60mph over the 10pm to 3am period going from south west to west. if it's still looking the same tomorrow i'll put a general warning up. oh yeah, and of course it'll be horizontal wet stuff with it too lol

[©Amethyst]

oh yeah, and of course it'll be horizontal wet stuff with it too lol

We get that here, too... but not like Thurso did...

I may need some psychiatric help just for considering saying it...

But that's one of the things I miss about living in Caithness!

[Margaret M.]

One of the things my husband loves about Caithness is the weather.

He hates the heat.

It took me some time to get used to the heat when I left Caithness but now, I love it! It lifts my spirits just seeing the sun even if it's from the comfort of an air conditioned house when it gets a little too hot. This summer was perfect -- very little humidity and nicely spaced rain showers to keep everything lush and green.