Estuary Weather patterns

[dylanwinter]

one of the pleasures of sailing is watching weather

at the moment the Humber is about ten degrees warmer than the surrounding land

and the weather has been coming in from the East

the weather fronts send long fingers of activity up the Humber

when they come there is no escape - the only thing to do is to find a quiet spot, drop the hook and sit below while it passes

when the prevailing weather comes from the west the Humber will sometimes produce quite strong updrafts and peel the oncoming cloud bank back

of course in the summer when the water is colder than the land it behaves in a completely different way

I assume that all big estuaries and lochs behave this way

does anyone have any observations or, even better, some snaps of estuary weather they would care to share

I was wondering what happens on a hot day when all that heat from the mud banks is suddenly extinguished by the in coming tide

you do get some pretty weird mist effects on the Humber

Dylan

 

[Lakesailor]

Sometimes in the summer you could get those beautiful days that only occur in The Darling Buds of May.
We would walk along the foreshore at North Ferriby (where we lived) when it was silent and hot and sunny with just the sound of skylarks, out of sight, above us.
Other days it could be cold and misty as a result of an inversion. I've been at the top of the Humber Bridge, above the mist, in brilliant sunshine, when it's been cold and dank on the ground.
I had a mate/colleague who lived in the old lighthouse at Paul. I spent many hours/days there and saw all kinds of weather. Mainly drab or dramatic.

 

[franksingleton]

All very interesting. You confirm what I always say when I give talks to sailors. Use short term forecasts as general guidance then put in your local experience. If you want computer guidance, the free Met Office App will not be bettered other than by using human input to improve it.

When it comes to longer ranges then the NWP models are your best bet. The change to mild windy weather on its way as I write was on the cards a week ago.

 

[dylanwinter]

the different patterns seem to be more pronounced when the weather is coming up the estuary

less so than when coming off the land

so I assume that the Severn really gets it

Dylan

 

[sarabande]

Dylan

Alan Watts has a couple of books out, and deals with local weather variations in detail. A bit old fashioned in style, but he does cover how winds bend at land/sea boundaries, and wind shifts, sea and land breezes . He also looks at thermal winds in "Wind Pilot", Nautical Publishing, if you can get a copy.

 

[wotayottie]

The bit that has always puzzled me Dylan is the way that the wind often changes radically when the tide changes here in the Bristol channel. And I'm not talking the apparent wind changing because of your change in boat speed with the tide, but big changes in true wind speed. Like tide changes direction with a speed change initially of a knot or less and the wind chan ges by 10 or 15 knots.