Katabatic Winds

[oleander2]

YM March 2007 on page 92 in the article Jewel of the Adriatic
the writer says that katabatic wind "is a weather phenomenon that British sailors only read about in textbooks."

Surely the wind that falls from the cliffs in Lulworth Cove and Mupe Bay at 3.00 am on a summer morning is katabatic. It certainly cause boats to drag their anchor and pushes 30 knots at times.

 

[starboard]

http://www.katabaticwind.com/

Paul.

 

[starboard]

Dont think that will help you much!!!!!!!!!

Paul.

 

[[2574]]

add chapman's pool to that as well! i anchored overnight there last summer and endured a very windy, veering about sleepless night. never again!

 

[jimi]

Katabatic winds are generally much stronger being literally a mass of cold air falling down a mountainside. I 've experienced it in Turkey where we were knocked flat and held down cos of the wind falling down. Also heard of it in Lochranza when it can fall down from Cioch m'oighe (sp?). The lulworth etc is just a funneling sea breeze effect and not katabatic

 

[savageseadog]

I've experienced it iround the Isle of Man (twice) and Scotland

 

[jleaworthy]

Loch Hourn has my vote.

 

[claymore]

Loch Nevis but not massive - I would have thought somewhere like Wasdale would be a place to experience them?

 

[Lakesailor]

Certainly fits the profile. But I wouldn't hang about there at night. There be monsters.

 

[tangomoon]

Yes it must be

 

[jimbaerselman]

'Katabatic', thrown casually into a conversation with a knowing look and a shrug of one shoulder, is famously a way of waiving your meteorological knowledge to others when they refer to winds blowing down a hill. Cool eh?

Just listen to the windsurfing buffs of Vassiliki waiting for the 'katabatics' to kick in. On a hot afternoon.

 

[bedouin]

I don't think the hills around lulworth would be high enough for any significant katabatic wind. They are caused by cold air "rolling down" a mountain so you need a reasonable height for them to form.

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

And I thought that katabatic sounded like what my crew end up like after a night ashore! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
Well, you learn something new every day! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Twister_Ken]

Ginantonic
Paralytic
Catatonic

 

[LymingtonPugwash]

[ QUOTE ]
Ginantonic
Paralytic
Catatonic

[/ QUOTE ]

That's it!! Knew it was something like katabatic /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[tangomoon]

Yes that's right a katabatic wind

Read

http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/OTHER/glossary.asp

 

[tangomoon]

http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/OTHER/glossary.asp

 

[jimi]

OK I've read it. So what?

Now why don't you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katabatic_wind and perhaps you might start to comprehend why a 30 Knot caused by an offshore breeze being funneled off a 100 metre high coast is not katabatic ... clue 200mph

 

[tangomoon]

Wilkepedia is put together by people who can add, delete or THINK they know. You could put down what you think a katabatic wind is. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About and ref the line:

[ QUOTE ]
while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism. Users need to be aware of this in order to obtain valid information and avoid misinformation which has been recently added and not yet removed.

[/ QUOTE ] at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About

I have as you suggested read the page in Wilkepedia and it says:

[ QUOTE ]
Katabatic winds are sometimes experienced by yachts at anchor. They often appear after a windless evening and arrive an hour or two after dark. They CAN blow very hard (up to gale force) for about an hour before dying away. This CAN be a frightening experience as the anchor may have been set with only the expectation of light winds and the yacht can easily have its anchor dragged. Katabatic winds CAN go up to 200 miles per hour.


[/ QUOTE ]

The operative word in this is CAN, which you have interpreted as DOES/MUST thus promulgate misinformation to all around you. Do try to read these things thoroughly if only for the sake of others who do not bluster. The OED or Concise Oxford dictionary gives well, concise description but beware of misinformation on the net or not reading it properly.

I think I have described sequence of reference with enough clarity for you to understand it.

 

[jimi]

If you say so. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz