Re: Yeah, bad weather is a problem
In Orkney, there are "tidal races". Basically, you can stand on the shore and watch the sea moving past you like a broad, very fast, river. The only thing I have seen going through it is a car ferry with its engines flat out. Think of the whitewater canoeing you sometimes see on the TV but without so many rocks (when away from the edge).
My parent's house had stone walls over 1m thick. Newer houses don't but I bet they are fairly well put together all the same.
A story I am not sure if I got from my father or grandfather is that, after WWII, the Met Office decided to spread weather stations around the UK and decided to put one in the airport near Kirkwall. Then they frequently rejected the figures sent to them. Eventually, to prove a point, someone was sent from London to show people what they were doing wrong because they were reporting higher wind speeds than are actually possible in the UK.
This person brought new equipment and set it up. They immediately saw wind speeds far higher than could possibly exist in this country! I believe that they now accept the figures. This station will be nice and automated anyway.