Les suêtes are strong south-east foehn winds on the west coast of Cape Breton Island. The term "suête" originates from the Acadian French inhabitants of the Cheticamp area as a contraction of "sud est" (south-east).
The western edge of the Cape Breton Highlands plateau slopes abruptly down to sea-level from approximately 400 meters altitude. South-easterly winds lifted on the East side of the island are flowing across the plateau and frequently accelerated to high velocities on the steep downslope in stable airmass condition.
These winds affect the region north of Mabou through to the northern mostly point of the west coast, but no where as much as Grand Etang, where the wind have been measured at over 200 km/hr on several occasions. If you want to feel the full effect of Les suêtes, come for this cache during a Les suêtes wind warning, personally I don't advise it. If you come for this cache on a summer evening you may get to experience another great West Caost of Cape Breton weather phenomenon, an incrediable sunset over Grand Etang Harbour.
On the day this cache was published, we were once again under Les suêtes wind warnings, winds of 80 km/hr and 130 km/hr in the highlands. I think mother nature felt the new cache need to be tested.