By the time of writing everything is peaceful and quiet with hardly any wind but that is likely to change as the weather patterns are shifting. A high pressure area has dominated Scotland on and off during the autumn which resulted in a quiet and sometimes very sunny Autumn. Winter has yet to start and it will do so according to various weather websites. Some sites, the ones we shouldn't take serious, are already talking about horror, ravage and terrifying weather forecasts for Christmas. They actually write: "The violent superstorm will make landfall at around 6am on Christmas morning and will see air pressure drop more than 24 millibars over 24 hours - a so-called explosive cyclogenesis, or weather bomb."

I tend to ignore such overreacting and panic creating websites and rather stick to the more serious and less sensational weather sites such as Netweather who write: "By Friday another area of low pressure is heading our way. This will bring wet and windy weather for Friday with widespread strong winds even severe gales to parts of Scotland early on Christmas Eve. Hot on its heels will be another deep low for Christmas Day with more strong winds, gales even stormy conditions for the west of Scotland. For anyone travelling during Christmas weekend, do keep an eye on the forecast this week." Continue reading...

With all this in mind it doesn't hurt to review your travel plans if you're planning on visiting Islay, or leaving the island for a family visit. One thing is certain, there will be disruptions and Calmac has already put out a warning this afternoon: "Ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) is warning anyone planning to travel by ferry this week and into the holiday period that strong winds are forecast in many parts of its network leading to possible disruption of ferry services.

Operations Director Drew Collier said: “Weather forecasts for the west of Scotland are predicting a stormy week for many especially as we near the weekend when people will be travelling for Christmas.We will review sailings on a case by case basis but would advise anyone planning to travel by ferry to take this into account when planning journeys in the next few days."

Make sure to read our Ferry Check Article to find out how you can stay up to date with sailings and disruptions. We wish you a safe journey!

Tag: christmas travel calmac weather