Coptic Gales - 27th September 2006
For some time we have heard locals talk about the Coptic Gales. These are seasonal winds with evocative Arabic names that effect this part of the world. I had checked with the charts and we were due one on 27th September, the El-Saleeb (the Cross). There is a nice chart of them here:
http://cyprus-storms.batcave.net/coptic_chart.jpg
That day was fine and so I went to bed sceptical about the whole thing. During the night we were woken by a wind blowing through the house in New Testament fashion. The curtains blew about and outside the garden furniture was blown over.
The strangest thing was that normally the temperature drops slowly over night so we would have expected it to cool from 25C (77F) to 20C (68F) whereas on that night the temperature rose from 25C (77F) to 31C (87F) at 6:00 am.
After all these years I understand why Joni Mitchell sang "The wind is in from Africa and last night I couldn't sleep".
http://cyprus-storms.batcave.net/coptic_chart.jpg
That day was fine and so I went to bed sceptical about the whole thing. During the night we were woken by a wind blowing through the house in New Testament fashion. The curtains blew about and outside the garden furniture was blown over.
The strangest thing was that normally the temperature drops slowly over night so we would have expected it to cool from 25C (77F) to 20C (68F) whereas on that night the temperature rose from 25C (77F) to 31C (87F) at 6:00 am.
After all these years I understand why Joni Mitchell sang "The wind is in from Africa and last night I couldn't sleep".
posted by /s at 12:33 pm
2 Comments:
You might say you were a coptic-sceptic and now you're a coptic-convert.
I'd never heard of coptic gales before - how on earth can they predict the date?
Dunno. I have been told by the locals (several different ones) that these gales do occur 'at or about' the predicted date. In the UK we are so used to the weather changing at the drop of a hat and gales at any time of year. I guess where the weather less changeable people are more likely to look for a pattern. That said I am sure it is just hockum. I will let you know on the date of the next one.
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