The British love to talk about the weather

XC weather, the trusted forecaster

A relatively mild storm has hit the island this weekend. The ferries to the mainland have been cancelled, the rain is hurtling along in horizontal curtains and everyone is glad they have nowhere they have to be. At least in our house.

Since moving to the Outer Hebrides, a rock in the Atlantic ocean, we have expected the weather to be interesting and it has not disappointed.

Last year we witnessed out first tornado on Lewis.

Beginnings of the funnel cloud

Thunder and lightening had been a rare event too, but has now become common. I assumed this was because the clouds moved too quickly accross us to have time to build up pressure. But since the tornado, I wonder if the weather has got more fierce and extreme events are more commmon.... 'Global wierding' it's been called.

Generally I feel pretty safe in harsh conditions - the walls of the house are 3 feet thick and built of the oldest rock on planet earth. Its exciting, nothing to be scared of - Nature is immense, I can see that here all the clearer.

Protecting each other... or hiding behind, I'm not sure...

So even though we lost 150 roof tiles in the last gale, with gusting in excess of 110mph, and nearly constituting a hurricaine, in Britain, I'll just consider it a learning experience and programme the builders number into the phone for future reference...