and North Head, separated by about one kilometre, as the base of the triangle. Beyond the heads lies the North Sea. Pentland Firth line about 11 kilometres north of North Head. There are three harbours in Wick, the Outer Harbour, the Inner Harbour, and the River Harbour, all of which are formed and protected by breakwaters. The Outer and Inner Harbours are on the south side of the estuary, divided from the River Harbour by a breakwater. The River Harbour straddles the river, with breakwaters on either side of an entrance about wide. Wick Inner Harbour now has an extensive marina complex, and is fast becoming a base for leisure boating. It is also now a well known stopping point for visiting pleasure craft. In 2012 a storm battered the harbour, causing extensive damage. In June 2016, another storm smashed a hole in the seawall. Map references Historical and current maps of Wick are available online. Climate Wick has an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb), encompassing a narrow temperature range, low sunshine levels and high winds. Despite its far north location, close to the path of Atlantic depressions, rainfall averages below due to a rain shadow caused by mountains to the west. Governance Wick has history as a royal burgh dating from 1589. In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the local government burgh was merged into the Caithness district of the two-tier Highland region. The lowest tier of governance is filled by the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council which was also formed at that time. In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the district was abolished and the region became a unitary council area. From 1996 until 2007, the town of Wick was covered by two or three wards, each electing one councillor by the first past the post system of election. This year, a single Wick ward was created to elect three councillors by the single transferable vote system. The new ward is one of three within the Highland Council's Caithness ward management area and one of seven within the council's Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross corporate management area. From 2017 onwards, it was part of a new ward called Wick and East Caithness Wick is within the former civil parish of Wick. The parish has that of Latheron to the south, those of Watten and Bower to the west, and that of