101mph Winds Rattle Scotland

It was a very airy Christmas in Scotland yesterday as winds topping 101 mph rattled the Shetland Islands. "Scotland's weather is notoriously unpredictable," the local transport minister noted in a display of understatement. A warning was issued to all travelers to take extra care. The rest of the UK enjoyed unseasonably mild weather. Wind is such a constant in Scotland that the country is aiming to be the wind-power green leader of the world. Some 2,700 new onshore wind turbines are in the pipeline, which could boost the potential total number of such operations across the country to more than 4,000, reports the Scotland Herald. But experts warn land is running out for the often controversial alternative-power farms. A 100-foot underwater turbine has been installed in the sea around Orkney to be part of another alternative energy tidal project. (More Shetland Islands stories.)