The combination of exceptionally heavy east-southeast seas and a big spring tide left a trail of devastation in northeast Scotland, United Kingdom in the early hours of last Saturday morning at the ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh after what local residents described as the "worst storm in living memory."
With violent storm force 11 south-easterly winds forecast, conditions deteriorated rapidly during the second part of Friday, when the true strength of the wind appeared to remain focused out at sea.
By midnight Friday steady wind speeds in excess of 40 knots were being experienced on the shore -- considerably less than the 70-plus knot winds recorded 20 miles out into the North Sea.
Having grown quickly, the swell on shore reached heights seldom experienced before around the time of high water at 2 a.m.
