While Helene was a tropical cyclone, the storm never came close to land. Three ships were caught in the outer part of Helene. The strongest of these reported 56 mph (91 km/h) winds early on September 23 in the north Atlantic. Though it stayed far away from the island, the hurricane made rough waves in Bermuda. As a weakened extratropical system, strong wind gusts were reported in Ireland and northern Scotland. The strongest wind gust in Ireland was at the Valentia Observatory, where 56 mph (91 km/h) gusts were reported. In Scotland, the strongest gust was on South Uist Island in the Outer Hebrides, where 74 mph (118 km/h) gusts were reported. No damage or deaths were reported because of Helene.
Alle, Switzerland
Alle is a municipality of the district Porrentruy of the canton of Jura in Switzerland.
Electronic component
An electronic component is a basic electronic element. These components can be connected together to make circuits. Components can be single items (resistor, transistor) or in more or less complex groups as integrated circuits (logic gate, resistor array).
A thin metal conductor
A flexible conducting electrical or optical link.
A physical device with a number of metal contacts that allow devices to be easily linked together.
A mechanical or hard state device that can electrically connect or isolate two or more lines.
Asuel
Asuel is a municipality, in the new municipality of La Baroche and district Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.
Beurnevésin
Beurnevésin is a municipality of the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.
Boncourt, Switzerland
Boncourt is a municipality of the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.
Bonfol
Bonfol is a municipality of the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.
Bressaucourt
Bressaucourt is a municipality of the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Bressaucourt merged into the municipality of Fontenais.
South Uist
South Uist (Scottish Gaelic: "Uibhist-a-Deas") is an island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. In the 2001 census it had a usually resident population of 1,818. There is a nature reserve and a number of sites of archaeological interest, including the only location in Great Britain where prehistoric mummies have been found. The population is about 90% Roman Catholic. The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Gaelic language in Scotland. In 2006 South Uist, and neighbouring Benbecula and Eriskay were involved in Scotland's biggest community land buyout to date. In the north west there is a missile testing range.
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides, often called the Western Isles, make up an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. It is also a parliamentary constituency. The northern island is Lewis and Harris. South of Lewis and Harris is a series of islands, such as South Uist, Benbecula and North Uist. The Outer Herides includes a number of even smaller islands.
The isles form part of the Hebrides, and are separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the stormy waters of the Minch, the Little Minch and the Sea of the Hebrides.
Formerly the dominant language of the Islands, Scottish Gaelic remains spoken even though it has now been largely supplanted by English in some parts.
Sea transport is crucial and a variety of ferry services operate between the islands and to mainland Britain.
The Western Isles became part of the "Suðreyjar" kingdom of the Norse, who ruled for over 400 years until sovereignty was transferred to Scotland by the Treaty of Perth in 1266. Control of the islands was then held by clan chiefs.
Most of the islands have a bedrock formed from ancient metamorphic rocks and the climate is mild and oceanic. The Gulf Stream runs nearby. The 15 inhabited islands have a total population of about 26,500 and there are more than 50 substantial uninhabited islands.
Much of the archipelago is a protected habitat including both the islands and the surrounding waters. There are 53 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) of which the largest are Loch an Duin, North Uist at and North Harris, which is in extent.
Loch Druidibeg on South Uist is a National Nature Reserve owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. The reserve covers 1,677 hectares across the whole range of local habitats.
Historical footnote: Many websites of the Outer Hebrides derive content from the Eolas Virtual Hebrides, website. This was once the largest rural website in the world. Eolas went bankrupt in 2000 and the Eolas TV company became MacTV. The web design team became Reefnet and the content has largely found a home on GlobalGuide.Org.
Sites deriving partly from the original Virtual Hebrides
Other Outer Hebrides websites
Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) is the fourth space shuttle run by NASA. It was named after a sailing boat used for ocean research by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Hurricane Gordon (2006)
Hurricane Gordon was a strong Category 3 hurricane that crossed the Azores as a Category 1 hurricane, making it the first hurricane to directly impact the Azores since 1991. Gordon's remnants also affected Western Europe. It was the eighth tropical storm, third hurricane and first major hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season.
The original development of this system can be linked to Hurricane Florence. It began as a tropical wave just right behind Florence in the first week of September, which at first was absorbed into the large circulation of then-Tropical Storm Florence. As Florence began to organize and move northwest, the wave managed to break from the circulation again and slowly organize in spite of hostile conditions at first. On September 10, it had organized enough to be declared Tropical Depression Seven northeast of the Lesser Antilles. With Florence far away from the system, conditions became more favorable for development, and it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Gordon on September 11 while moving slowly westward.
The conditions remained favorable as Gordon steered through a hole in the ridge near the Azores, allowing it to avoid land. It continued to strengthen, becoming a hurricane on September 12 and rapidly organizing into a strong Category 2 hurricane less than 24 hours later. The quick development continued on September 13, and by that evening, it had strengthened into a major hurricane - the first of 2006 - while maintaining a very small size. Gordon would remain a major hurricane for over 24 hours before cooler water began to set in and Gordon gradually weakened, beginning early on September 15.
The steering currents would also weaken greatly and Gordon became nearly stationary for about 24 hours as well before a trough would come in and push Gordon northeastward. By the morning of September 16, Gordon was barely a hurricane and was forecast to weaken over cooler waters. However, that did not happen, and Gordon actually strengthened a little bit while moving northeastward and became better organized. That trend continued for over 48 hours, and Gordon increased in strength slowly, becoming a Category 2 hurricane. While the forecast constantly showed a weakening trend, the resiliency suddenly meant that the Azores were threatened by Gordon. Gordon reached its secondary peak of 105 mph (165 km/h) on the morning of September 19, before weakening again.