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European windstorm

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A case of extremely rapid cyclogenesis

A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic storm that tracks across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe in the winter months. These storms usually track over the north coast of Scotland towards Norway but can veer south to affect other countries including England, Wales, Ireland, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. As these storms can generate hurricane-force winds (and sometimes even winds at the strength of major hurricanes), they are sometimes referred to as hurricanes, even though very few originate as tropical cyclones.

These storms cause economic damage of €1.9 billion per year, and insurance losses of €1.4 billion per year (1990-1998). They rank as the second highest cause of global natural catastrophe insurance loss (after U.S. hurricanes).[citation needed]

Several European languages use the word Orcan (or cognates thereof) to indicate the European windstorm. "Orcan" derives from the Mayan god Huracan, also the source of the word hurricane.

Historic and infamous storms

  • January 161362, Grote Mandrenke. A southwesterly Atlantic gale swept across England, the Netherlands, northern Germany and southern Denmark, killing over 25,000 and changing the Dutch-German-Danish coastline.
  • January 6-January 7, 1839. Night of the Big Wind. The most severe windstorm to hit Ireland in recent centuries, with hurricane force winds, killed between 250 and 300 people and rendered hundreds of thousands of homes uninhabitable.
  • December 28, 1879. The Tay Bridge Disaster. Severe gales (estimated to be Force 10-11) swept the east coast of Scotland, infamously resulting in the collapse of the Tay Rail Bridge and the loss of 75 people who were on board the ill-fated train.[1]

Severe European windstorms in recent history

  • January 31, 1953-February 1, 1953. North Sea Flood of 1953. Considered to be Britain's worst natural disaster of the 20th century, claiming over two thousand lives in the UK and Netherlands. A storm originating over Ireland moved around the Scottish west coast, over Orkney, down the east coast of Scotland and England and across the North Sea to the Netherlands. Sea defences in eastern England and the Netherlands were overwhelmed. The ferry MV Princess Victoria, travelling between Scotland and Northern Ireland, was lost with 153 lives onboard, as was more than a quarter of the Scottish fishing fleet. In the Netherlands, flooding killed 1,835 people and forced the emergency evacuation of 70,000 more as sea water inundated 1.365 km² of land. An estimated 30,000 animals drowned, and 47,300 buildings were damaged of which 10,000 were destroyed. Total damage was estimated at that time at 895 million Dutch guilders.
  • February 16, 1962, The Sheffield Windstorm, South Yorkshire (Northern England). The city experienced winds of at least 65 knots with reported gusts of 80 knots or more. These high wind speeds were very localised on the city area, possibly due to extreme lee-wave enhancement of the airflow downwind of the Pennines.
  • February 17, 1962, the North Sea flood of 1962. The above mentioned storm had moved south-east and reached the German coast of the North Sea with wind speeds up to 200 km/h. The accompanied storm surge combined with high tide pushed water up the Weser and Elbe, breaching dikes and caused extensive flooding, especially in Hamburg. 315 people were killed, around 60,000 were left homeless.
  • January 11-January 12, 1974. Record winds, sometimes of hurricane force, recorded in many parts of Ireland. The strongest ever sea level gust in Ireland, at exactly 200 km/h, was recorded in Kilkeel, County Down. Many trees and buildings were damaged and 150,000 homes were left without electricity.
  • October 15 and 16, 1987, Great Storm of 1987. This storm mainly affected southeastern England and northern France. In England maximum mean wind speeds of 70 knots (an average over 10 minutes) were recorded. The highest gust of 117 knots was recorded at Pointe du Raz in Brittany. In all, 16 people were killed in England and 4 in France. 15 million trees were uprooted in England. This storm received much media attention, not so much because of its severity, but because these storms do not usually track so far south, the trees and buildings are not used to such winds (indeed, in mid-October most deciduous trees still have their leaves and were therefore more susceptible to windstorm damage and, following weeks of wet weather, the ground was sodden, providing little grip for the trees' roots), the severity of the storm was not forecast until approximately 3 hrs before it hit and it struck after midnight, meaning hardly anyone was warned.[citation needed]
  • February 13, 1989. During this storm, a gust of 123 knots was recorded at the Kinnaird Lighthouse (Fraserburgh) on the north-east coast of Scotland. This broke the highest low-level wind speed record for the British Isles. Much higher (unofficial) windspeeds have been recorded on the summit of Cairn Gorm and on Unst in Shetland.
  • January 17, 1990. Severe gales swept the north coast of Scotland, and the Northern Isles. A gust of 109 knots was recorded on Fair Isle. The storm was tracked into continental Europe under the name "Daria".
  • January 25, 1990, Burns' Day storm. Widespread severe gales in England, Wales and southern Scotland. Isolated gusts of over 105 mph were recorded, causing extensive structural damage. The area affected by this winter storm was much greater than the October 1987 storm, as it tracked east into mainland Europe, where it was known under the name "Vivian" and caused severe damage, especially to forests. In total, insurance losses resulting from this storm totalled about US $6bn.[citation needed]. The next day saw storm "Wiebke" continuing the damage.
  • January 1, 1992, The New Year's Day Storm or Nyttårsorkanen. This affected much of northern Scotland and western Norway, unofficial records of gusts in excess of 130 knots (67 m/s) were recorded in Shetland, while Statfjord-B in the North Sea recorded wind gusts in excess of 145 knots (75 m/s). DNMI estimated the strongest sustained winds (10 min. average) to have reached 90 knots (45 m/s), comparable to a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson-skalaen. Very few fatalities, mainly due to the very low population of the islands and the fact that the islanders are used to very high winds.
  • January 4, 1998. Another intense secondary depression crossed Ireland and northern England. Severe gales also swept Wales and southern England. Widespread structural damage and power outages, and flooding along rivers and coasts.
  • December 26, 1998. The Boxing Day Storm. Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland. Winds speeds of 103 mph were recorded at Prestwick airport, and 93 mph in Glasgow. Widespread disruption and power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland. The Forth Road Bridge was fully closed for the first time since its construction in 1964.
  • December 29, 1998. Another severe gale tracks across Northern Ireland and Scotland.
  • December 3, 1999. Hurricane like storm Anatol hits Denmark and neighbouring countries. Killing 7 in Denmark alone. Pressure: 952.4 hPa. Wind speeds above 85 mph (38 m/s), gusts up to 115 mph (51 m/s).
  • December 26, 1999. On the 26th, 27th and 28th, France, Switzerland and Germany were hit by severe storms and rain. Over 100 people were killed, and the storm caused extensive damage to property and trees and the French and German national power grids. The first storm in the series, dubbed Lothar by European forecasters, rapidly developed just off of the French coast and swept inland. Each of these systems was associated with an intense jet stream aloft and benefitted from latent heat release through atmosphere-ocean exchange processes. "Lothar" and "Martin", as the second storm was dubbed, were extratropical cyclones and had a hurricane-like shape, with an eye at the center. In the first storm, a gust of 184 km/h was recorded at Ushant (Fr. Ouessant) in Brittany and in the second storm, the highest gust was of 200 km/h at Île de Ré in France.
  • October 30, 2000. A deep area of low pressure swept across the United Kingdom bringing gusts in excess of 90mph and severe flooding to Southern England, it was the strongest system of it's kind to hit the UK since the Burns Day Storm of 1990.
  • December 17, 2004. A storm generating 80 mph winds hit northern France, including Paris, killing 6 people and leaving thousands of homes without power.
  • January 8, 2005. Northern Europe was hit by the storm Erwin (German weather service), also called Gudrun by the Norwegian weather service, with sustained wind speeds of 126 km/h and wind gusts of 165 km/h. The storm caused a lot of financial damage in Sweden, where the forest industry suffered greatly from damaged trees, as more than 7,500,000 cubic metres (9,800,000 yd³) of trees were blown down in southern Sweden. About 341,000 homes lost power in Sweden and several thousand of these were out of power for many days and even weeks in some cases, as about 10,000 homes were still without power after three weeks. The international death toll was at least 17. In the space of 6 hrs, 250 000 000 trees were blown down, and after months of hard work, lorries and drivers from across Europe eventually transported the logs to several sites across the south of Sweden. One huge site was situated on a disused airfield, stretched for 2 km, 14 metres in height, and 10 piles in width. This was only 2% of the total logs stored, enough to create a 3m x 3m pile all the way to Australia.
  • January 11, 2005. On the evening of the 11th and early morning of the 12th, a ferocious gale swept across Northern Ireland and northwestern Scotland. Wind speeds of 124 mph (equivalent to a strong Category 3 hurricane) were recorded on North Rona and 105 mph on Barra in the Hebrides. Stormy seas combined with high spring tides and caused flooding in low-lying coastal areas. One fatality in Ireland and six in Scotland, including a family of five who were swept into the sea after fleeing their flooded house on Benbecula. At the height of the storm, 85,000 households in Scotland were without power. On the 13th, all Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services and train services in Scotland were suspended, and many roads were closed due to fallen trees. The Forth Road Bridge was closed for the first time since the 1998 Boxing Day Storm, and the Tay (Dundee) and Friarton (Perth) bridges were also closed to all traffic.
  • October 3, 2006. A powerful storm battered the south west coast of France with gusts of 150 km/h in the coastal areas. The storm up rooted many trees and many homes remained without power for many hours. 2 people were badly injured in a helicopter crash and 1 person died when his house was burnt down because he had to use a candle to light it.
  • November 2, 2006. In the afternoon of the second and in the night a storm made its way through the North Sea with gusts reaching 174 km/h in Denmark and southern Sweden.The countries affected were Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Scotland. The storm killed 15 people and detached an oil rig. It then was rescued and pulled back to safety.
  • January 10 and January 11, 2007. A strong depression north of Scotland brought high winds to most of the United Kingdom. With a central pressure of 950mbar sustained winds exceeded 60mph and a gust of 94 mph was recorded in Benbecula late on 10 January. Additional hurricane force gusts were recorded in Scotland. Gale force winds were recorded in the south of the United Kingdom and in the Midlands, and gusts of over 50mph affected the entire country. Northern areas received gusts of between 60 and 90 mph. Six fatalities have been confirmed along with several injuries. Five people were killed when a trawler sank off the coast near Wexford, in The Republic of Ireland and another person was killed near Taunton, Somerset when a tree crushed his car. Another trawler went missing. Two survivors were recovered. One woman went missing after falling overboard on a ferry near Falmouth. A supermarket in Wales had its roof damaged and residents across the United Kingdom reported other minor damage. 80,000 homes lost power in Wales. Flooding occurred in several areas, with several rivers overflowing. The Environment Agency issued 59 flood warnings. The depression was named Franz by the Free university of Berlin. A strong jet stream was also present at the time. This system was one of several strong storms to hit the United Kingdom during the winter of 2006–2007, possibly linked to the El Niño event taking place at the time.
  • January 14, 2007. The powerful storm Per hit south-western Sweden with wind gusts up to about 90 mph. Three people were reported dead in different storm related accidents, and thousands of trees were blown down, as well as thousands of households losing electricity. This storm also caused damage and flooding in Lithuania.
  • January 18, 2007. In the wake of Kyrill, already regarded as one of the most violent and destructive storms in more than a century, storm-warnings were given for many countries in western, central and northern Europe with severe storm-warnings for some areas. Schools in particularly threatened areas had been closed by mid-day, to allow children to get home safely before the storm reached its full intensity in the late afternoon. At least 53 people were killed as violent storms lashed northern and central Europe, causing travel chaos across the region. Britain and Germany were the worst hit with eleven people killed as rain and gusts of up to 99 mph (159 km/h) swept the UK and sustained windspeeds of up to 73 mph were recorded. Thirteen people were killed in Germany, with the weather station on top of the Brocken in the Saxony-Anhaltian Harz mountain range recorded wind speeds of up to 121 mph (195 km/h). Five people were killed during the storm in the Netherlands and 3 in France. The gusts reached 151 km/h at the cap gris nez and 130km/h in many places in north of France. In both Germany and the Netherlands the national railways were closed. At Frankfurt International Airport over 200 flights were cancelled.
  • June 25 and June 26 2007. A rather unseasonal weather system brought gale force winds to the UK, but was more memorable for causing severe flooding, with many areas receiving more than a months' rainfall in a single day. The storm exacerbated existing flooding problems (caused by violent thunderstorms a week earlier) and areas such as Sheffield were worst affected. Over 102 flood warnings were issued, and by June 29 five people were dead, many areas flooded and there was severe damage to the Ulley reservoir,where cracks appeared in the dam wall, causing fears that it might collapse. 700 people were evacuated from the area. Over 3000 properties were flooded across the country and more than 3,500 people were evacuated from their homes. See June 2007 United Kingdom floods
  • November 7 and November 8 2007. A strong european windstorm struck northern scotland. All schools in Orkney were closed and hundreds of homes lost power because of the bad weather that moved across the country. Gusts as high as 90mph were reported along with early snow for the scottish highlands. The Northlink ferry company cancelled sailings between Lerwick and Aberdeen. There were also reports of trees and roofs being blown down in the high winds. Trees were damaged by the high winds in Grampian. The combination of north-westerly winds exceeding 60 mph. Low pressure and high spring tides led authorities to believe severe flooding was inevitable in the east of England, and the order was given to close the Thames Barrier. These conditions were said by many to mirror the North Sea flood of 1953.

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Tay Bridge Disaster". Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  2. ^ "1961 Hurricane/Tropical Data for Atlantic". Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  3. ^ "A Stormy Night on Fair Isle". Retrieved 2007-09-03.
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