Gales of up to 100mph battered the north yesterday and caused major disruption to ferries.
A weather station above the Bealach na Ba at Applecross recorded the top speed.
The highest recorded gust at sea level in the UK was 76mph at Loch Glascarnoch, north of Gorston.
Next was 70mph at Inverbervie and third highest was 67mph at South Uist in the Western Isles, were all ferries were off.
At one point a trampoline was seen flying in front of traffic on Culloden Road in Inverness as it was pushed along by the wind.
A spokesman for the Met Office, which had a yellow warning out for wind, said winds would be a bit lighter today.
Highland Council said that Kilmuir Primary School and nursery class, with a total of 45 pupils, was closed due to bad weather.
On the roads the Dornoch, Kessock and Skye bridges were all closed to high sided vehicles.
In Orkney, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) had a flood warning out for the Churchill Barriers.
There was major disruption to the west coast ferry network. Islands to lose connections included Mull, Barra, Coll, Tiree, Kerrera, Lismore, North Uist, South Uist and the Small Isles.
CalMac’s director of operations, Robert Morrison, said: “Weather continues to cause severe disruption across our network with 19 of 28 routes cancelled and another six delayed. High winds are forecast for the next few days so further disruption is likely but we will continue to monitor conditions and provide a service when safe to do so.
“Passengers who need to travel should leave plenty of time for their journey and check the service status of their sailing before setting off.”
There were some cancellations on the Orkney and Shetland inter-islands routes and NorthLink Ferries said it could be Friday before its services to the outer isles return to normal.
Flights between Glasgow and Barra and Tiree were cancelled.
Moray Council was called out after gales brought down a tree and lampost onto the road at Linkwood Road in Elgin.
A spokeswoman for the council said: “We’ve attended and removed the tree and damaged street light, and made the area safe. The street light will require to be replaced.”
All ferry services in the Western Isles were cancelled.
A power cut affected residents in Eriskay and South Uist yesterday afternoon.
Schools and nursery classes on Barra were shut due to high winds. The majority of Barra’s public service buses and school runs were cancelled and a household refuse bin collection was called off.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks increased standby resources in anticipation of potential damage to the network.
