Tramontana?

N

njamesphoto

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after a great sail up from Valencia we moored up at StCarles MDL marina. Cigar shaped clouds in the sky 8knots of wind 20 mins later 30-50 knots all night sw. GUess we wont be heading off soon. Wind guru didnt forcast it or passage weather. Is this very local or all the way to france? Just glad we stopped at a marina.
 
Its all the way to France. At least as far as Montpellier.

Be particularly careful around Cap Bear - the wind can go from F2 - F9 in just a mile as the wind is deflected off the East side of the Pyrenees.

That area is well known for knock downs in unsettled weather.
 
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tramuntana

I think you are using the wrong forecasts:its been on my forecasts (Passage weather, bouy weather)for days. Perhaps not showing so far west, but like all these gulf de lion storms, their course seems a tad variable in reality. We're in alghero, just getting the other edge of the storm, but not above 25knots here- its going south of us.

Capture.jpg
 
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KellysEye said:
You get a similar thing in Corsica, not sure what it's called. If you see a cigar shaped cloud form over the island get into cover.
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Not really what you could call cigar shaped, but definitely the lenticular type clouds under discussion. Taken in Alghero, where we waited it out until the charter boats returned on the Friday and visitors were consigned to outer darkness! Probably the deepest anchorage we ever used, more than 18 metres upwind of the marina.

P1000886.jpg
 
The heavy winds were certainly all the way over here to Corsica. we've sat it out in good shelter atAjaccio, and were going to go south today. But 2m swell and a hard beat with lots of cold water on the decks deterred us and we're able to sun ourselves waiting for the sea to go down a bit.

Lenticular, cigars etc are all very well but in 8/8ths of cloud cover, it's just grey and unpleasant. Love the photo Vyv, very weird!
 
Passage weather on saturday and wind guru looked ok and apparently wind finder forecast slightly stronger winds but nothing of this magnitude. We regulary check them along with CYCOFOS. Your image for monday shows the usual path again with nothing this far west. Also even during the strong winds nothing was heard on the vhf.
 
OP stated sw winds all night. In fact the Tramontana is a northerly wind. From Thursday evening 17th until Monday late-ish 21st we had a constant northerly averaging 25/30 mph with a max gust of 42 mph (this is 5 km inland and 120 m amsl). Quite enough to drive us all mad; it's gone now but we'll have another in 3 or 4 weeks time !

It is common for Sant Carles to have southerlies while we're having northerlies but they do sometimes join us and share the same puffs. I have always assumed the local mountain ranges and the influence of the mighty Ebro valley have much to do with these local variations. K(C?)atabatics also have much to do with it but I'm a bit fuzzy about them.
 
Carolwildbird said:
I think you are using the wrong forecasts:its been on my forecasts (Passage weather, bouy weather)for days. Perhaps not showing so far west, but like all these gulf de lion storms, their course seems a tad variable in reality. We're in alghero, just getting the other edge of the storm, but not above 25knots here- its going south of us.

Capture.jpg
Click to expand...

Hi Carol, we met in Almerimar and are now in Greenwich (lovely place) What/where did you get such a good weather forcast from. So easy to understand. Where are you now.

Peter
 
I sat it out in Canet en rousillon, coming north from Ibiza, fine till saturday night on french border when i crunched along for eight hours with blimmin 35kts over the decks, bit iffy round cap creuse when only could do 2knots and hence nearly lost way on. Most definitely was forecast, but steady wind round us was at 30knots though gusts to 46 (on the windex anyway) on sunday and monday. The gusting is the perhaps the headline that ordinary mortals quote (plus a bit!) but the forecasts show the steady wind - but in golfe de lion i think the gusts are wilder in a way they perhaps aren't in more systemic atlantic lows etc.

Passageweather and others forecast it. Ch 16 also all the way along the coast directed listeners to other channels for forecasts. Gone now!
 
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Just by way of background: the key element to the lenticular (= lens-shaped) or 'cigar-shaped' clouds is their sharply defined top edge, which denotes the top limit of an inversion layer. This is a physical barrier to air rising through it, so that when an air stream is forced upwards by hills, it cannot rise as it normally would so must accelerate, instead. Not all such inversions are betrayed by such clouds, but when you see one, beware on the downwind side. They're generally asociated with high pressure systems rather than lows, and crop up from time to time even in UK waters.

Paradoxically, you'll usually find much calmer conditions on a lee shore with a lenticular cloud to leeward than on the 'sheltered' shore.
 
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Carolwildbird said:
I think you are using the wrong forecasts:its been on my forecasts (Passage weather, bouy weather)for days. Perhaps not showing so far west, but like all these gulf de lion storms, their course seems a tad variable in reality. We're in alghero, just getting the other edge of the storm, but not above 25knots here- its going south of us.

Capture.jpg
Click to expand...

Hi Carol, can you let us know where you get this weather site please.

Peter
 
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