The Wind Whisperer

Some people’s joints ache as heavy rains approach. Others get migraines when the air pressure changes. But how many can smell dangerously high winds coming— and get paid to issue storm warnings? That was legendary Newfoundlander Lauchie McDougall’s superpower. His unusual story was not only the inspiration behind local musician Donald Crewe’s “The Human Wind Gauge: A Tribute to Lauchie McDougall” and Atlantic Canadian singer-songwriter Sherry Ryan’s “Stop the Trains” but also the focus of an unsung gem most travellers pass by.

Located on the main street in Channel-Port aux Basques, just a few kilometres from the ferry terminal, is a small exhibit — a single room filled with photos, paintings and a plaque devoted to the man known as the “weather sniffer.” Born in 1896, McDougall was a farmer, trapper and father of 12 who homesteaded in the Wreckhouse, a stretch of western Newfoundland, notorious for its ferocious winds that funnel between the mountains and the sea. For three decades, he earned $20 a month from CN to warn the Newfoundland Railway of incoming storms and hurricane-force winds that could derail trains. When he died in 1965, his wife, Emily, continued the lifesaving warnings for seven years.

The railway is long gone — and so is the personal touch — but wreckhouse winds still play havoc with traffic and topple transport trucks. You’ll see yellow caution signs along the Trans-Canada Highway, plus two digital ones in Channel-Port aux Basques and near Doyles. If you’re driving by McDougall’s former homestead, stop for a spell.