Novel, Thierry (Meteo-France)
During 36 hours, south-western wind has blown from Balearics archipelago islands to French Mediterranean coast, regularly with a 35 knots average speed. An heavy swell touch the Provencal coast, destroying coast-roads, sinking ships in havens, flooding an island. The study of pressure gradient between Ajaccio (Corsica) and Perpignan (Pyrenees) and coastal winds, during 45 years, shows that this swell is really unusual.
This study also allows us to find the rules to forecast such heavy swells.