Flipster
<<The following pic has been used before to indicate the likely up-slope stratus.
>>
While I applaud you making an effort to understand the weather I think I need to correct you here: the picture you posted was taken by me and I either posted it directly ontio the thread or (more likely) posted a link to it; it was NOT intended to illustrate “up-slope stratus” at all – it was taken in conditions of high humidity and an on-shore wind but the wind was GENTLE and did not develop a faster, compressed layer following the ground – this picture was of the local orographic cloud caused by a bulk of air being pushed up until it reached its dew point – not dependent upon wind speed at all.
This is what would have been existent above about 800 ft at the time of the crash (from various accounts) and would have been the local cloud base on the Mull and extending out to sea as per the photo you posted.
I did post a link to a movie clip I took on another occasion when there was a stronger on-shore wind (but still less than that on the day of the crash) – a movie better describes the nature of that thin, ground hugging mist that forms when the lower layer of air is compressed, speeds up, and thus reaches its dew point well before the bulk of the air mass and so starts well below the orographic cloud – the movie best shows its intermittent (with varying turbulence over irregular slope) nature and you can see that it does follow the ground and is of limited thickness. I'll try and put a link here
[url="http://www.pprune.org/%5BURL=http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/grauniad/?action=view¤t=DSCF0414.flv%5D"]
This would have been what veiled the slopes below the solid orographic cloud that day but thicker (stronger wind and summer evening).
Here is a still shot from the north I took one evening that shows the up-slope mist in profile from a distance
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...d/d00eae69.jpg
Really, these conditions are very common up there – as I have said before, anyone interested in this case should spend a day or so up there in Summer.