THE JANUARY HURRICANE ON RONA
The night of 11th and 12th January 2005 saw the worst storm to hit the Hebrides in living memory. The damage, and the tragic loss of life in Uist will never be forgotten.
In 1989 the Met Office installed an automatic weather station on North Rona National Nature Reserve, (45 miles to the northeast of the Butt of Lewis and the same distance northwest from Cape Wrath). It was a marine buoy that could not be deployed at sea, but on dry land it has functioned perfectly, taking hourly recordings ever since.
Although the tightest isobars (and hence the fiercest winds) passed directly over Benbecula, the eye of the storm passed to the north of Rona. The winds are never as strong near the epicentre but the data from the remote island reserve illustrates just how intense the conditions were, even there. It also shows the duration of the storm, an unprecedented 6 or 7 hours with winds over hurricane force. A maximum gust of 111.7 knots was recorded, nearly 130 mph (Benbecula apparently recorded gusts reaching 140 mph).
