Bluster, Gusts and Squalls

“Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?'
'Supposing it didn't,' said Pooh after careful thought.
Piglet was comforted by this.”
A.A. Milne

Above:  As you can see, the house is directly on a clifftop.  I took a few photos and upon my way back to the patio steps, the waves continued to be rather dramatic - and the spray carried in the wind caught me by surprise! 

One of the conveniences of reading a book on the Kindle (whilst within a WiFi zone) is that there is the facility to check up on certain words or  references.  For some reason, and I can't remember what novel I was reading, I ended up learning a few key things  meteorological.  This was rather pertinent as we have experienced some interestingly varied weather over the past couple of days.

Simply:

GUST - A sudden strong rush of wind.
SQUALL - A sudden violent gust of wind or localized storm, especially one bringing rain, snow, or sleet.
BLUSTERY - Characterized by strong winds.

However, it gets much more scientific:

Meteorologically speaking a wind gust is defined as the maximum 3-second wind speed that occurs (or is forecast to occur) within a 2-minute interval at a height of 10 metres above ground. So, a gust is a rapid increase in the wind speed relative to the mean strength at the time, and it is short-lived.

A squall however is a non-frontal line or belt of violent convective activity, sometimes seen with vigorous thunderstorms.  Forecasters use the term "squall line" to describe a sudden wind-speed increase of 8 metres per second (29 km/hr) or more, for one minute or longer. It includes several briefer wind-speed changes, or gusts. So, a squall is a strong rise in wind speed which generally lasts for some minutes – the official definition is that the wind has to rise by at least 16 knots to a speed of greater than 22 knots and to last for at least one minute.

​Who'd know...??
Not me, that's for sure!