Ah fond memories of Shetland weather and explaining to our contractor why their lifting plans for 500t modules really weren't going to work in the time frames they were planning.
Here's a quote from the
Shetland website:
Our average windspeed throughout the year is 16.7 mph and in January, the windiest month, it’s 20.8 mph. Even in summer, the average remains above 12 mph.
Unofficially, the RAF station at Saxa Vord in Unst holds the British wind speed record; a gust of 197 mph was recorded in 1992, after which the measuring equipment blew away. However, the maximum recorded at Lerwick is 109 mph, some way short of other places around Britain, for example, 115mph at the Isle of Wight, 124 mph in South Wales and 142 mph at Fraserburgh.
The anemometer also
blew away in 1962:
However, the radar station holds the unofficial British record for wind speed, which in 1962 was recorded at 177 mph; just before the measuring equipment blew away. This was clearly well in excess of the speeds which the aerials were designed to survive. It was decided in view of such weather conditions that a radome should be built over the aerial array and, with Saxa Vord providing cover of value to NATO, the latter organisation provided the radome, while the RAF, in the form of No. 91 Signals Unit, operated the radar from 1957 onwards.