Les Suêtes winds pose unique challenges for residents. Here are some of them
Les Suêtes winds occur at least once a month except for July, when an inverse happens in the area. Wind gusts are over 90 km/h and can reach up to 200 km/h on occasion. Here's what it's like to live with them.
Hunkering down inside during a Les Suêtes wind warning has been a way of life for as long as Saint Joseph du Moine resident Robert Deveaux can remember.
“Nobody goes outside; you stay inside when this is happening,” he tells The Weather Network.
“The only reason I would come out of the house when that’s going on is if my house was on fire."
The "Les Suêtes," or southeast wind racing down the Cape Breton Highlands towards Deveaux’s backyard, is routinely extreme, often clocking over 100 km/h when other areas not near the Highlands are experiencing less than half that speed.
“I just put a fresh coat of paint on these shingles, but I can’t keep paint on here. It’s like it’s being sandblasted,” says Deveaux while pointing to the area. "You never get used to it."
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Les Suêtes winds routinely blast Robert Deveaux home, causing paint to chip off his shingles. (The Weather Network)
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He even had to remove one of the windows on his house that faces the wind and cover the remaining one in plexiglass. His whole home is positioned with Les Suêtes winds in mind.
“There’s always one door that’s sheltered from the heavy winds, so when the southeast wind is really bad, maybe we wouldn’t use this door; we’d use the other door. But this door is sheltered from all the cold winds,” he says.
Many homes in the area have had to come up with creative solutions like installing large wooden wind shields to simply be able to open their doors when the wind is blowing.
Cheticamp resident Michel Soucy rigs up a rope from his home to his garage whenever a Les Suêtes wind warning is issued so he can access his generator if needed.
“I’ve learned to respect these winds,” Soucy tells The Weather Network.
He says even with his rope, venturing outdoors is a last resort.
“It’s not just getting blown over; it’s getting smacked with something that’s been blown off a tree or picked something up off someone’s property," says Soucy.
Cheticamp resident Michel Soucy rigs up a rope from his home to his garage whenever a Les Suêtes wind warning is issued. (The Weather Network)
If you’re visiting the area, certain campgrounds in the Highlands do sometimes close as a precaution when the warning is in place.
“If we have campers, we have to find them somewhere else to camp because their tents can be swept out to sea,” Parks Canada interpreter Miranda Dodd tells The Weather Network.
The general consensus among locals is that the only place safe when Les Suêtes winds are blowing is indoors.
