Aguadulce, near Almeria...

[keelbolt]

Trying to get from Almeria to Gibraltar, but couldn´t beat out of the bay leaving Almeria this morning. Winds 35 kts direct into the bay and the yacht wouldn´t make ground. This is the third day of strong winds.

Local tells me the wind is called Poigniente (spelling?). Anyone know it? Is it katabatic, or have I got stuck in the equivalent of a meltemi?

Just to add pain to the grief, the harbourmaster wanted to charge us 67 euros for one night (we are only 40´) and wouldn´t let us stay even a few hours without paying. Almeria charged us 15.2 euros a night. Some difference!

KB

 

[Guest]

http://www.1yachtua.com/Medit-marinas/Mediterranean_Sailing/mediterranean_winds.shtm

http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/lgcolor/escolor.gif

You are right on the end of the Sierra Nevada range and there is a strange weather situation at present with a large low pressure over Northern Europe. The wind is funnelling around the corner of the mountains.

It will not be back to normal until Wednesday but it will ease. By Saturday the Azores High stretches through France.

That bay is very shallow and kicks up a good one. Patience and a large wallet. Sorry. At least you are not being flooded like Yorkshire.

 

[Grehan]

Poniente = Westerly.
Not katabatic or meltemi.
Wind's been blowing fairly strong and consistently for the last couple of days down here in Gib, too. However, flat calm this morning.

 

[jimbaerselman]

In the straits of Gibraltar, the wind either blows a hoolie from the east (levanter) or a hoolie from the west (poniente) or if you're lucky, it's a nice day and not too strong at all. Not for nothing is Tarifa the windsurf capital of Europe.

It's all due to the funnelling of winds through the straits whenever there's a pressure difference between the W Med and the Atlantic. The winds subsequently fan out and follow the coasts, usually (but not always) dropping off with distance. As pointed out above, with a depression to the north, that wind will follow the coast, blowing along the Sierras.

It's not dissimilar to the terrain effects on depressions which cause strong northerly winds to stream down the Rhone valley, sometimes blasting as far as Minorca for a few days at a time . . .

Katabatic is seen in Croatia, the Bora.

Meltemi is light in the Ionian area, strong in the Cyclades as far as Turkey. Fundamentally, that's the Mediteranean high interacting with the monsoon depressions over N India - there's an almost permanent pressure gradient in the E Med over summer, amplified by diurnal heating over the Turkish mainland.

The Med has its windy spots . . .

 

[BlueSkyNick]

I can only sympathise because patience is required. When we first wanted to do Almerimar to Gib, there were strong westerlies for five days. We went round to Almeria just for something to do, but they wouldn't give us a berth. Eventually negotiated one in Aguadulce for one night - not easy.

If you can at least get round to Almerimar, you might find it cheaper and a change of scenery if nothing else.

When we eventually did leave, we had no wind and flat sea all the way to Lisbon !! And subsequently all the way to La Corunna.

 

[wagenaar]

Levanter comes from the spanish verb "llevar", which is "to get up", in this case the sun, so winds from the east. Poniente comes from the spanish verb "poner", which means to put down, again the sun, so winds from the west.

 

[jimbaerselman]

Thanks for the etymiology!