North Atlantic Skyline » storm

Rising Water

John Smyth — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:24:03 +0000

This morning in Salthill, the tide was out and it was sunny, though cold. But, as predicted, in late afternoon, the skies darkened, the wind strengthened and it began to rain. By the time it was dark, around 5pm, it was close to high tide, and waves and spray were washing over the footpath on Salthill Promenade [as you can see in the picture above, taken around 6pm]. It has not been the worst storm to hit Galway but it was very cold and windy this evening. However, the real test will be tomorrow morning’s high tide, around 6 am. Click here for a short video I made while wandering around the Prom this evening. As usual, everytime I saw a couple strolling hand-in-hand along the Prom, braving the waves and spray, a part of me admired their shared sense of adventure, but another small part of me wanted the two of them to be lifted by a wave and washed across the car park in as photogenically a way as possible. Is that so wrong ?

And yes, I got completely drenched making the video.

Storm front

John Smyth — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:11:12 +0000

A winter storm 4 years ago sending spray crashing over the changing areas by the diving board in Salthill in Galway. This is why I like living by the sea. (Click here for bigger version of picture)

Splashdown

John Smyth — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:44:20 +0000

The consequences of the severe weather continue to unfold – areas to the north, south and east of Galway City are still severly flooded, with residents and commuters suffering hardship. Over the weekend, the fear that the combination of storm force winds and heavy rain would cause flooding in the city turned out to be unfounded – even at high tide, the water did not reach near the edge of the quay wall at the Spanish Arch.
The sea in Galway Bay was, however, still wild. I was down on the Promenade more than two hours after high tide on Saturday morning and the spray of waves frequently swept over the diving board. While I was there, a lady arrived, changed into a wetsuit and made her way to the end of the diving board before entering the water for a swim.She had to dodge a few waves on her way down – the picture above shows her bracing as a wave swept over her. As I was leaving, another man arrived to go swimming too.
I’ve uploaded a short gallery onto Flickr of pictures that I took while at the diving board. They were all taken with a wideangle lens, so it won’t be a surprise to learn that I got an eyeful or two of spray while taking them.

North by northwest

John Smyth — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:35:43 +0000

Huge waves crashing against the beach at Strandhill in Sligo earlier today, caused by the stormy weather over the weekend.

Bigger view available here.