Scarey as hell.

[mickshep]

We watched the water around us today turn totally white. the entire surface was being ripped off by the wind like a thick fog to a hight of about 6 or 8 feet reducing visibility to a few feet, breathing on deck was next to impossible even with your back to it, our boat, a heavy stable 32' long keeled yacht was shaken like a toy and was laid over about 20 degrees under bare poles, forked lightening and 180 degree wind shifts with gusts reportedly of 60 knts, Only 20 minutes earlier we had bright sunshine and no wind to speak of though the clouds on the horizon looked like some pretty heavy rain was on the way. At one stage it started to hail, The ice particles were the size of marbles.
The whole terrifying experience lasted about an hour and a half, when it was all over 1 man was dead, another died later in hospital. The location? Hartlepool Marina. England 11.40 am. 10/08/03.

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[ccscott49]

What the hell was it? Obviously some kind of weather front/anomaly, but what?

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[kgi]

had a similar thing happen to our boat in the gulfstream off florida, it was an intense squall line, we had a 180 wind shift with a very noticable drop in temperature, wind went from ten knots to forty five in seconds, luckily we saw it coming, their was an a advancing line of foam under it, and at the time because we had never seen anything like it and weren't sure what was going to happen we took the sails down,it hit us like a sledge hammer and as the wind had gone round to about fifteen degrees off the bow we couldn't hold a course so we altered to make it as comfortable as possible and ride it out, this meant we were going to canada wether we liked it or not!!! our boatspeed went from four knots to eleven the rain was so heavy we had water in the cockpit about one to two inches deep, then the lightning started and things went from bad to worse, unfortunately the radar was overwhelmed by the torretial rain and the continuos llightning.....hour later it was like it had never happened!!!!!!!!...sky cleared everything went back to normal and turned into a very pleasant day....but that one hour scared the pant off me......!!!!!!!!.........keith

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[oldharry]

Exeprienced a similar storm in the Irish Sea around 1985, lasted about an hour, winds 50kts+ veering through 150 degrees as the storm progressed and reportedly over an inch of rain. Fortunately I was on my mooring near Barmouth at the time so no damage done

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[Evadne]

I was in a similar sort of happening off the coast of west Africa on a research ship some years ago, the wind came up from nowhere in about ten minutes and the anemometer, which only read up to 100 knots, was banging hard against its stops with each gust, dropping to 60 in the lulls. The ship was heeled over at about 30 degrees as they struggled to get her around head to wind. We decided it was probably a baby tropical storm, a big, strong convection cell in the making.

A funnel cloud would be smaller but potentially more vicious, and would disappear as quickly as it came up. It would also be apparent to anyone watching from a distance. I think that if a really big bubble of warm, wet air encountered an unstable layer a few hundred or a thousand feet up it could shoot upwards, a convection cell in overdrive and could create the scene you describe. The only indication of those conditions you'd get would be some tall thin towering cumulus clouds, as other convection cells were forming.

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[AndrewB]

Line squall

Not at all uncommon, in fact smallish ones are frequent in the Solent in the summer. But occasionally one gets caught by a really big one. They come out of nowhere, sometimes against the prevailing wind, often on a dying wind. There is generally sufficient notice to get snugged down in preparation - provided you believe what you are seeing. There is normally no advance swell, which is a sign they will be over fairly quickly. Just as well, as hurricane force gusts, big wind shifts, thunder, torrential rain and hail are common.

They are associated with a moving line of thunderstorms, caused by the convergence of hot and cold winds.

The pic is of a South American pamperos (not taken by me I hasten to add!).

 

[IanBry]

Re: Line squall

Yikes!

I can see a queue for the heads forming already.........

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[phanakapan]

When I was in France last week, a german weather forecast gave F2/3 gusting 7/8- which I thought was very odd at the time- it looks like they knew something after all.

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[ecudc]

Re: Line squall

looks like something out of Independence day just before the aliens wiped out washington.

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[Mirelle]

Smaller scale, but, once bit, twice shy...

More than twenty years ago I was off Harwich in the little 18 foot two and a half tonner than I then sailed, in quiet, but thundery conditions. Quite suddenly the boat was knocked over so far that water entered by the companion hatch, and I learned a valuable lesson - that in a really strong wind the force exerted by a flogging sail is as great as when the sail is sheeted, so in strong winds lower the sail still sheeted.

I have been very, very, careful of thunderclouds ever since!

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[Metabarca]

We get these in the Adriatic too. Typically they approach against the prevailing wind, always from the north-west and last an hour or two; enough to do a lot of damage, especially to boats at an insecure anchorage. No advance notice in the form of swell, but just a purple line that rushes closer. If you see it, there's just time to strap everything down tight!

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