Severe storm hits Poros near Athens

[Hardmy]

Thanks from our side as well for both those links. We are in Nydri right now, and a bit worrying what is coming next.

 

[macd]

You're both very welcome, A&S. Edit: and Hardmy.

I'm watching it now and it looks pretty menacing - but of course that's lighting, not wind. Fingers crossed that Noelex's experience that yesterday's rain was heavy but winds light is repeated. Aktion/Preveza airport, which is under all the current thundery activity, has shown peak winds of only 9kn overnight. (Max gust recorded there in last few days was 27kn at 1720 last Friday, which I guess would have been roughly the time of the Vliho gusts Noelex mentioned?)

Metarea 3 forecast to 0400 tomorrow has thunderstorms in most areas associated with a slow-moving frontal system.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best...

Take care.

 

[Wife of Lofticus]

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best...
As Jack would say...;-)
We are also now using the sites you mentioned Mac, thanks. ⛈️

 

[ostra4]

Thanks for putting the info on about those sites Mac .Spoke to my pal in Poros again yesterday , the assessor came with them to view their boat which is now ashore , on arrival assessor said he wouldn't look properly u til all the dry powder had been cleaned up (!!!) and would return when that's done .Pal not happy and spoke to his insurance company who said if your not happy with assessor we will send another one , they come from Athens .He did say to get quotes to have the damage repaired .

 

[OldBawley]

I remember that the HNMS ( the marine radio forecast ) predicted Force 7 for Saronicos on Friday but no mention of thunderstorm.
WindGuru and Windfinder had much lower wind predictions. We had to motor to Dokos. Not even enough wind to open the Assy spinnaker.
We anchored in Derric Cove Dokos, Main anchor direction sea, the Northill anchor as a stern anchor and a big Greek grapnel anchor with its chain around some rocks direction SW.
Lots of lightning, no wind. Lightning without thunder so probably far away above the Peleponesos.
All three anchor lines-chain come aboard the boat at the tip of the bowsprit. Some heavy duty snatch blocks take care of the stern and side anchor rode. That way the boat can turn around the tip of the bowsprit. Bow in the wind, handy if using a wood burning stove.
I had the winter cockpit tent rigged but open to the back and port.
We ware watching a movie, outside dark as only an uninhabited island can be. No moon, no stars.
Above the noise of the film we heard something screaming outside.
Goats donkeys and horses can´t scream like that so something was wrong. Seconds later the scream hit us. Horizontal rain, some hail and wind from SW. Lots of wind. No instruments, guess about force 8 to 9. I was struggling to save the cockpit tent. The boat turned around its bowsprit, I now had a chance to have a look witch way we ware pointing.
The following morning we could have a look at what had saved us. Our Northill witch ALLWAYS holds had not held in the long sea grass. It had picked up the mooring chain of Iliakos, the local fisher. The flimsy Greek rock anchor had held. The main was now just behind our boat.
I really have a good guardian angel.

 

[Birvidik_Bob]

We anchored in Dokos a few years ago when the wind and a thunderstorm came up.

Scared the bejezus out of me.

 

[Tizzy]

It is indeed profoundly unfortunate, and we also have friends who suffered damage elsewhere in the same storms. Sincere sympathy to all of them.

Unforecast? Maybe. However, perhaps "totally" is a bit strong.

I'm afraid I don't have a record of what the Greek GMDSS area forecast was at the time, although I'd be interested if anyone has a contemporary copy. I imagine it just gave a moderate Beaufort force and 'thunderstorms', possibly 'severe'. Such forecasts shouldn't be relied on to predict wind speeds in thunderstorms with any accuracy and don't even try to: they're never likely to predict F11, or whatever it was, except as a gradient wind.

Grib forecasts, as I recall, showed a large band of rain. Gribs, of course, never directly indicate thundery weather, but it's a prudent bet, particularly at this time of year, than rain and thunder go together. But CAPE values, strongly associated with thundery conditions, were also forecast to be elevated -- certainly high enough to suggest violent thunderstorms. Anyone who sails in Greece is aware, or should be, that thunderstorms are often associated with wild winds from unpredictable directions.

Real-time lightning maps (not forecasts) had earlier shown a very energetic band of lightning over NW Greece, clearly moving south and east. It was this band which caused widespread trouble, later stretching unroken from the Ionian to Evia and onwards. (A smaller hotspot also traversed Kalkidiki.) Anyone who'd seen this depiction of lightning moving their way would have been worried. I know I was. (Fortunately we were well tucked up in Limni and got just one brief blast of about 40knots.)

Much of this might not have been revealed by a quick look at a forecast, and to be constantly aware of it is a counsel of perfection that few of us achieve (especially when the sun's on your face and the breeze is balmy, as it was on the preceding afternoon). And the bottom line is that even that would not have given an inkling of 60+knot winds, because such events are too small, too localised and too ephemeral to be predicted in such detail. But there were signs that something unpleasant was on its way.

Which is why the owners were with the boat prior to the storm hitting!

 

[OldBawley]

I was in Poros town today, had a look at some of the damage still visible.

55 boats- yachts damaged.
Two sank.
Many of the power and water columns that had received a metal cage just months before ( guess why ) are gone / broken clear off.
At one place the quay is about a yard deep dented in. Solid wood and iron. On many spots pieces of glass fibre still sticking into the broken quay.
Debris from yachts on the bottom and on the quay. Self steering stuff, mattresses, shoes, corner of a yacht stern.
Some of the smaller motorboats parked on the ferry parking lot. Two of them without a side deck.
The Anna, a big steel tripper boat seriously damaged at the stern.

Talk is that all damage will be paid by the insurance. Sure, but when?
Also damaged yachts in Vivari, and Nafplion.

 

[macd]

Which is why the owners were with the boat prior to the storm hitting!

To what does your "which" refer? There are several candidates.
"the boat" is perhaps the vessel owned by the "friend" in the opening post? Or perhaps another?

 

[OldBawley]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG9-OnJ0t6k