Enjoying Storm Imogen

A series of intense winter storms has swept over Britain this winter.  ‘not as bad as the 2013-14 series that flooded roads along Poole Harbour and briefly cut the peninsula off from the mainland, they have still disrupted travel with heavy downpour and gale winds.

The Met Office has taken to naming them in an effort to increase awareness, so the ninth storm of the year, arriving yesterday, was Imogen.  (They plan to avoid names beginning with Q, U, X, Y, and Z, and have been pretty balanced about male and female names).

Anyway, ‘always good fun to wander down to the beaches and along the cliffs to enjoy the spray and see what folks are doing.  First impressions, though, are simply of horrible biting cold atop Evening Hill and of the shifting bands of misty rain across to Brownsea Island.

 

Closer to Sandbanks Cafe, more exposed to the wind, the sand was already shifting, covering the promenade and catching in my contact lenses.

  

The KiteBoarders and WindSurfers had moved over to the Channel-side Sandbanks to take better advantage of the waves.  Bright against the dull grey of the gathering storm, they skimmed and jumped in every direction.

   

The winds howled in the eaves and pushed at the windows all night.  But one lovely thing about the coast is how quickly it can all change. The morning dawned calm and bright, the sky scrubbed and the beaches hosting early walkers, down to scour for flotsam and treasure.