Those words you may think are likely to haunt Michael Fish until his dying day as he was the hapless Met Office forecaster who reassured a concerned viewer who had heard of a tropical storm heading our way back on 14th October 1987.

In fact, Fish was referring to a tropical storm over the western part of the Atlantic and indeed, this storm stayed well clear of the British Isles.

We do not see hurricanes in the UK. But 48 hours later, to many, whether we had endured a 'storm' or a hurricane' was a matter of semantics.

By then 15 million trees had been damaged or destroyed, falling masonry had damaged buildings and cars; a Channel ferry was driven aground at Felixstowe and 18 people lost their lives in the worst storm to hit this country in more than 200 years.

The Storm build up

The development of the storm over the western and central Atlantic had been well predicted by the computer models.

Severe weather conditions looked increasingly likely as the storm arrived on the Thursday or Friday.

Confidence in the computer predictions decreased nearer the event however, as it began to look that the severe weather would extend no further north than the English Channel coast.

Severe weather conditions looked increasingly likely as the storm arrived on the Thursday or Friday.

On the Thursday afternoon the depression was still drifting slowly in the Bay of Biscay. Its central pressure had fallen from 970 millibars at midday to 964 millibars at 1800.

As it continued spiralling towards the western English Channel warnings of Force 10 winds were issued. Those forecasts were increased to Force 11 in the early hours of Friday morning as the depression then raced across southern counties, leaving the mainland around the Humber estuary before dawn.

Dramatic temperature rises and falls as the weather fronts cleared through and a massive pressure surge were nothing compared to the real signs of the depression's track.

A Trail of Destruction

By the time most people were rising the next morning the destruction wrecked by the storm was plain for all to see.

Trees across a large swathe of Southern England were flattened, blocking roads and bringing down power and telephone lines. Roads and railway lines were blocked by the debris.

As clearing up operations began and power and communication lines were slowly restored (parts of East Anglia were without electricity for five days in the aftermath) questions were being asked.

Firstly, just how bad was the storm?

A gust of 106 knots (approximately 123 MPH) was recorded at Gorleston in Norfolk. Inland values were as high as 92 MPH at Heathrow Airport and 98 MPH at Gatwick Airport.

Winds such as these were certainly exceptional.

For the worst affected areas the winds were as strong as anything recorded since the last 'Great Storm' in 1703.

What was unusual was the extent of the damage. That was largely due to the fallen trees and they succumbed to the wind in such large numbers due to several factors.

As it continued spiralling towards the western English Channel warnings of Force 10 winds were issued.

The wind direction was somewhat unusual - southerly. The trees were still in leaf - the early autumn had been quite mild and wet.

Because of copious amounts of rain in the preceding few weeks, the ground was sodden. This helped to weaken many tree roots and the force of the wind against trees still in leaf was enough to do the damage.

Wiltshire's Great Storm

Compared with the rest of Southern England, Wiltshire did not fair too badly. Damage was fairly minor and the storm's effects were no worse than in the typical two or three storms which hit the county each winter.

The highest gusts recorded were around the 70 MPH mark.

But where was the warning?

The biggest question though, one screamed from the front page of every newspaper in the country was, "Why weren't we warned?"

Most major organisations, such as the emergency authorities and the Ministry of Defence, did receive warnings in time to take action. But it is also true that most members of the public had gone to bed thinking that there would be nothing more than a 'bit of a blow'.

The fact that so many people were taken by surprise led to an internal Met Office enquiry. As a result improvements were made to the data from ships, buoys and satellites and the computer models were modified.

It is to be hoped that any such storms in the future will be forecast with far greater advance warning and accuracy. But when it comes to weather, people seem to have short memories and we are likely to be just as surprised and shocked by any future 'Great Storms', no matter how accurate the predictions.

Richard Angwin