PICTURE 1: In these times when the weather has been turned on its head, it seems nature is trying to tell us something. 

With red skies, high winter temperatures and melting icecaps it should have come as no surprise that, at last, a destructive hurricane had formed, and instead of heading towards America, it turned its attention to our shores instead. 
As it turns out, we in Scotland got off very lightly as downgraded tropical storm Ophelia brushed our coast on her journey north after grinding a path through less fortunate Ireland. 

Living on the Firth of Clyde we are no strangers to high winds and the damage they can bring. The following pictures show something of just how bad things can become here in Inverclyde when nature decides to vent its fury on us. 

In my experience of extreme weather in Inverclyde, the primary cause for concern is nearly always the high tide which conspires with high winds to make our lives more difficult. 

This picture, taken in the January of 2017 shows bemused residents of Greenock’s Esplanade as they stood knee-deep in seawater, discussing how they could rescue waterlogged cars from their normally safe parking spaces. 

Nearby, containers stacked up inside the Ocean Terminal were scattered like a child’s building blocks and many gardens, homes and businesses were flooded across the country.

PICTURE 2: Taken from our archive, this picture taken after the great January storm of 1968 bears striking resemblance to the recent shots published in the Tele when the Inchgreen Drydock cranes were demolished.

Winds in excess of 100 miles per hour tore the cranes from their rails, sending one tumbling into the dock and another, pictured here, on its side by the quay.

PICTURE 3: In these days of social media and sound bites where a strong wind can be confused with a full-blown storm or hurricane, it is all too easy to forget that real storms have bought injury and fatalities to our own community. 

This picture, taken in the aftermath of the1968 hurricane, shows the true force nature can bring to bear when the bay windows were torn from this Albert Road property in Gourock. 

Miraculously no lives were lost and occupants escaped injury, but sadly five people were to die in Greenock during the storm as three seamen lost their lives when a dredger capsized off Princess Pier and another two people were killed by falling masonry in the town. 

PICTURE 4: Venturing out with a builder’s helmet on my head, I caught this picture at Gourock’s promenade as waves came at the shore like out of control express trains during a storm in 2012.

As I steadied myself to get a shot of the boiling waters of the Clyde, I was narrowly missed by an airborne wheely bin which struck my car roof and headed off, as if trying to escape the salt water spray and roaring wind. 

Going out into a storm to take pictures is a foolhardy thing to do and I would think twice before going out in these conditions again as a roof slate or similar could dramatically put an end to an adventurous day’s outing with the camera. 

PICTURE 5: A more gentle picture but one which reminds us of just how little height there is between us and the level of the sea. 

Not so much a storm as a mild gale, the winds fell into time with the rhythm of the Clyde to produce this undulating, mesmerising pattern which caught the attention of walkers on Greenock’s Esplanade.