Worst Atlantic storm system in 17 years hits the UK by Sean Batty
The big clear up starts today after England and Wales was battered by the worst Atlantic storm in 17 years. The last storm which brought such strong and widespread winds was the Burns' Day Storm, which some of you may remember back in January 1990.
The vigorous area of low pressure pushed into the west of the country during the early hours of Thursday bringing gusts in excess of 80mph by 5am to the Needles, on the western point of the Isle of Wight, and also to Aberdaron on the Lleyn Peninsula in Wales. The winds quickly strengthened across the rest of England and Wales through the morning, with Thursday's highest wind gust of 99mph being recorded, again at the Needles, at 7am.
It wasn’t just coastal areas which suffered, but also many inland areas where widespread severe gales were also experienced. London Heathrow Airport reported gusts of wind up to 77mph at 1pm, which forced the cancellation of over 100 flights. Flights were also cancelled during the morning at Cardiff International Airport.
It wasn't only flights that were affected but also many trains, which ran a reduced service and some ferry operators, were forced to cancel Channel ferry crossings as winds whipped up stormy seas.
There are reports that 10 people were killed in the UK on Thursday due to wind related incidents. There was a narrow escape for 26 crew members on board a vessel which was sinking around 45 miles southeast of Lizard Point in Cornwall. A massive rescue effort was launched as the ship started sinking after suffering damage, with Royal Navy Rescue helicopters airlifting all 26 to safety and French tug boats battling the waves to try and bring the ship under control.
Not much of England and Wales was left unscathed or left without some signature of the wind, with many trees felled, structural damage to buildings and power lines cutting electricity to many thousands of customer’s right across the country.
Even though Scotland managed to escape the worst of the wind, with a calm day across much of the Highlands area, heavy snow fell here. Some parts of the A9 had to be shut after several inches of snow fell. The snow here has come as a bonus to the ski centres with the upper slopes of the Cairngorms in the east reporting 45cm (almost half a metre) of snow, while the Nevis Range in the west has 42cm on its upper slopes.
Snow didn't just fall in the Highlands but also settled in the Central belt of Scotland, with several flights cancelled at Glasgow Airport due to the reduced visibilities. Snow also fell across northern England and caused for a tricky morning commute across Yorkshires M62.
The storm began to move away to the east taking its stormy winds over the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and into Poland.
There has been an oil spill in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after a container ship was slammed into the dock, and into the main oil storage terminal.
In Germany there are reports of 10 deaths as the winds reached similar figures to here in the UK. However, the winds were slightly stronger over the higher parts of the south where winds reached nearly 130mph late on Thursday at Wendelstein.
Here are some of the highest gusts of the day:
Needles, Isle of Wight - 99mph
Dublin Airport, Eire - 91mph
Great Dun Fell, Cumbria - 91mph
Crosby, Merseyside - 84mph
Killowen, County Down - 82mph
Holbeach, Lincolnshire - 81mph
Lake Vyrnwy, Cambrians, Wales - 81mph
Sheerness, Kent - 78mph
London Heathrow - 77mph
Blackpool - 77mph
Ronaldsway, Isle of Man - 76mph
Valley, Ynys Mon - 71mph
Salisbury - 71mph
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