Wreckhouse Weather
If you've never visited this island province and you do decide to do so sometime in the future, instead of flying you might decide to take one of the ferries that run between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland. If you do decide to come that way, just a short distance from the ferry terminal, on the Trans Canada Highway, you will pass this fantastic, magical looking region and what you see here is just part of it. It is known as the Wreckhouse ... an area that is known pretty well all across Canada for its extremely high winds. Because of the way the air flows around and against the terrain you get winds which accelerate like water through a nozzle. Gale to hurricane-force winds sweep down the slopes from the mountain ridges, through the narrow valleys and stunted vegetation, at speeds that can gust in excess of 160 km/h (100 mph) ... the equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane.
After a number of trains had been blown completely off the rails, the Newfoundland Railway managers became aware of a local farmer and trapper named Lockland "Lockie" MacDougall (or "Lauchie" as he was known to some). MacDougall had been born in the Wreckhouse region in 1896 and would live there his entire life. Lauchie had a weather sense that gave him the ability to read the signs of an approaching storm and the intense winds that accompanied it. The Newfoundland Railway decided it was worth a shot and agreed to give him a sum of $20 a month to warn the nearby Port-aux-Basques rail office of the onset of extreme winds. This allowed the railway managers to halt trains before they reached the dangerous Codroy Valley section of track. They then held east bound trains in the shelter of the railyard and west-bound traffic in the safer regions in the Codroy Valley. On one occasion the conductor of a train decided to ignore Lauchie's warning and continued through the valley. When 22 cars of that train were blown off the tracks by the Wreckhouse winds, McDougall's stature rose and he became a local legend. He provided the warnings until his death in 1965. His wife Emily then continued to do the same until 1972 when she moved away. By delaying the trains, Lauchie, "the human wind guage," has now become a local folk hero and no doubt saved many lives and damage to much property over the years.
This region never ceases to amaze me with it's changing facade. A week ago when I was here, it was almost dead calm, but even then the allure of the mountain beauty was strong. Yesterday, though, I could hardly drag myself away from the show. I parked on the paved over area of what used to Lauchie's house and took it all in and photographed it extensively. In this one, you can see quite a few weather artifacts: wind disturbing the water of the small pond, huge clouds building up over the mountains, sunshine dappling the foreground and lower elevations of the mountains, blue sky, and even a rainbow caused either by a small shower or the heavy mist of the descending clouds.
.
Hope you enjoy the photograph almost as much as I did looking at the actual scene play out before my eyes.
Wreckhouse Weather
If you've never visited this island province and you do decide to do so sometime in the future, instead of flying you might decide to take one of the ferries that run between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland. If you do decide to come that way, just a short distance from the ferry terminal, on the Trans Canada Highway, you will pass this fantastic, magical looking region and what you see here is just part of it. It is known as the Wreckhouse ... an area that is known pretty well all across Canada for its extremely high winds. Because of the way the air flows around and against the terrain you get winds which accelerate like water through a nozzle. Gale to hurricane-force winds sweep down the slopes from the mountain ridges, through the narrow valleys and stunted vegetation, at speeds that can gust in excess of 160 km/h (100 mph) ... the equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane.
After a number of trains had been blown completely off the rails, the Newfoundland Railway managers became aware of a local farmer and trapper named Lockland "Lockie" MacDougall (or "Lauchie" as he was known to some). MacDougall had been born in the Wreckhouse region in 1896 and would live there his entire life. Lauchie had a weather sense that gave him the ability to read the signs of an approaching storm and the intense winds that accompanied it. The Newfoundland Railway decided it was worth a shot and agreed to give him a sum of $20 a month to warn the nearby Port-aux-Basques rail office of the onset of extreme winds. This allowed the railway managers to halt trains before they reached the dangerous Codroy Valley section of track. They then held east bound trains in the shelter of the railyard and west-bound traffic in the safer regions in the Codroy Valley. On one occasion the conductor of a train decided to ignore Lauchie's warning and continued through the valley. When 22 cars of that train were blown off the tracks by the Wreckhouse winds, McDougall's stature rose and he became a local legend. He provided the warnings until his death in 1965. His wife Emily then continued to do the same until 1972 when she moved away. By delaying the trains, Lauchie, "the human wind guage," has now become a local folk hero and no doubt saved many lives and damage to much property over the years.
This region never ceases to amaze me with it's changing facade. A week ago when I was here, it was almost dead calm, but even then the allure of the mountain beauty was strong. Yesterday, though, I could hardly drag myself away from the show. I parked on the paved over area of what used to Lauchie's house and took it all in and photographed it extensively. In this one, you can see quite a few weather artifacts: wind disturbing the water of the small pond, huge clouds building up over the mountains, sunshine dappling the foreground and lower elevations of the mountains, blue sky, and even a rainbow caused either by a small shower or the heavy mist of the descending clouds.
.
Hope you enjoy the photograph almost as much as I did looking at the actual scene play out before my eyes.