#galernak

Talking about galernak and since they just happen in a few places of the planet, here’s a little post about them.

Galernak are very sudden storms that happen when southern wind changes to NW. They usually happen from March to September, especially in veeery hot days. NW wind blows from Galiza following the shore and when it hits with the hot air above it starts accelerating like crazy all the way to Euskadi, reaching 20m/s even. This makes huuuuge waves at sea, that becomes a nightmare in seconds.

The drastic temperature difference between NW and S winds began creating a storm, that becomes bigger and more powerful as the wind accelerates. As NW wind pushes S wind, temperatures drop, and - depending on the speed and power of the galerna - it’s not inusual to drop 10º in 20 minutes. Galernak are to be feared and many sailors have died because of them: they’re very quick and incredibly violent.

So when sudden wind starts blowing at the beach people just run away: 1) because it’s impossible to stay there with all the sand flowing and 2) a huge storm is coming sooner than later.

Vid below shows a galerna in Donosti a few years ago.