[summer '85]

One of those weather events I won't forget, the Christmas Eve gale of 1997 was one of the worst gales to hit northern England and Wales in the last 10 years. A vigorous low tracked across Northern Ireland bringing severe gales to Eire, where gusts reached 80mph bringing down trees, powers lines and causing structural damage. The low, its central pressure was 976mb by that time, then tracked across southern Scotland and it was along its southern flank that the strongest winds occurred across north Wales and northwest England. Wind gusts in this region approached 90mph causing much structural damage to buildings, uprooting trees, bringing down power lines and at one stage, 50,000 people were without electricity. It was certainly one of the worst gales to hit this region probably since 1990.
 

The sound of the gusts down the chimney was unforgetable and the lights flickered at times. Thought we were going to lose power. I remember Peter Cockcroft giving a severe weather warning between TV programmes, a fairly rare event. Christmas morning revealed the damage caused the winds, slate tiles broken on the ground, branches and even trees uprooted. A real mess.

[John Mason]

I'd venture that Bren remembers this one very well Kev! It was fairly bad in the Midlands also!

Cheers - John 

[Matt D]

Yes a great storm this, with a large 'hammer-head' cloud head development sitting on the polar front cloud band (think the BBC forecasters mentioned this) prior to the RACY event. Went for a walk on the Malvern Hills as the cold front was clearing and the back edge raced away to the east at a real pace, such was the speed of the upper winds. Had some pretty strong gusts in Herefordshire for a time ( a few trees down around the area) but the real damage was of course further north.

[Bren J]

I certainly do remember it well John. This was perhaps THE weather event of my life so far. At my folks house in NE Wales, a combination of the strong winds and lee gusting took maximum gusts in excess of 100mph in my part of the world (Hawarden picked up a >100mph gust at one point IIRC). My parents lost the roof of their house extension, and several large trees. We were without power until the 27th Dec.

Bren

[John Mason]

Quote

Bren J - 17/12/2006 23:59 I certainly do remember it well John. This was perhaps THE weather event of my life so far. At my folks house in NE Wales, a combination of the strong winds and lee gusting took maximum gusts in excess of 100mph in my part of the world (Hawarden picked up a >100mph gust at one point IIRC). My parents lost the roof of their house extension, and several large trees. We were without power until the 27th Dec. Bren

I thought so Bren - your equivalent to Burns Day, or going further back, the early January storm of 1976 - one that's deeply etched in my memory!

Cheers - John 

[Singo]

Lol , John the storm of 3 Jan '76 is THE storm etched on my memory. I lived on the seafront here at that time and the power of the wind and the sea were awesome. The Christmas Eve storm sneaked up on us a bit. The wind was gradually increasing and by mid evening was ferocious, but I think a little shorter lived than the storm of 76. We've had some good hooleys since 76 and 97 but those two occaisons are unforgettable in these parts anyway!

[cool j]

That system deleivered some of the most severe conditions I've ever seen in the 25 years I lived at home in Co.Kildare (inland near Dublin). I'll never forget the battering the wind gave my parents sheltered back garden that day [wow]

[Bren J]

08:45 Christmas morning. Having no power meant having no Christmas dinner. This also meant we couldn't use the apple sauce my mum had made from the apples provided by this lovely cooking apple tree in the back garden. Sadly, it was the tree's last Christmas, as well as several others in the garden!

Bren

[Mothman]

My mum was late getting back after collecting my brother.
I went out in tractor armed with chainsaw and met her on the wrong side of a large oak tree. I did the bare minimum to make a car gap, but it still took about 20 minutes of cutting and a push by the tractor to make this gap.

I actually don't remember the power being off this time, that was more recent in 1999

[WEATHERAL1987]

I remember this storm like no other. You people say that the North West of England got the worst of it but Lincolnshire was also hit by storm force winds on that night. I dont know how bad it was but I would say the winds were gusting to around 80mph. In my books this storm is in the top two in the list.

[StephenS]

The 1976 event mentioned above was very bad in S Lincs, Alex - I lived in Spalding at the time and well remember walking my girlfriend home (well, more like crawling at times) with trees, branches, fences and roof tiles going everywhere. It was a daft thing to do, thinking about it now! I seem to remember the wind gusted to 105mph at Wittering on that occasion: certainly what we experienced was sustained force 10 with higher gusts.

[summer '85]

10 years ago today........[wow]

[PaulKn]

Remember the event, although in Devon we were not affected so badly. However, I'm sure there was one the following year which affected Devon.

[Nigel Bolton]

Quote

StephenS - 5/1/2007 00:07 The 1976 event mentioned above was very bad in S Lincs, Alex - I lived in Spalding at the time and well remember walking my girlfriend home (well, more like crawling at times) with trees, branches, fences and roof tiles going everywhere. It was a daft thing to do, thinking about it now! I seem to remember the wind gusted to 105mph at Wittering on that occasion: certainly what we experienced was sustained force 10 with higher gusts.

The 1976 one is etched on my memory too. We caught the southern edge, the worst around 10pm on the 2nd Jan; at the time I was living northwest Essex. Loads of trees down, especially north of here. At Wattisham, Suffolk, the wind peaked at 56kt, gusting 84kt that evening, violent storm force 11, very rare indeed for an inland site, and indicative that this low was accompanied by a sig sting-jet.

Chritmas Eve 1977 brought a gale almost as strong to my bit of Essex. I can remember the flashing by shorting power cables, and then waking to see scores of holes in the roofs of the terrace of houses to my southeast.

N.

[Conor]

I remember this very well! All sitting in the sitting room with the power out, fire on and listening to the mad winds outside! If only it was like that tonight :(

[fiveleaves]

That 1997 gale must have caused some problems for Santa. Imagine trying to contol reindeer and steer a sleigh in 80mph gusts. He earned his mince pies and brandy that night.

[RumZ]

A classic storm for me, probably the first storm where I was old enough to truly understand some of the science and become interested in the weather patterns around the country, I was staying on a friends farm just north of Kendal in Cumbria. We lost power on Christmas Eve and it didnt come back for almost a week! - Had to go out mid-storm to check on animals and barn structures, which was quite scary with flying slates crashing on the ground nearby...

But it didnt wreck christmas, thanks to traditional style cooking in a slow coal burning aga, a thick 16th Century farmhouse, an open fire and a few candles and parafin lamps, we "weathered" that one in style...Our older friends on the farm (in their 70's) said it was just like christmas back on the same farm when they were kids... A christmas I will never forget thats for sure. Probably the most "authentic" and least commercial one I will ever have!... Can't believe it was 10 years ago!

Mike

[Ed wxman]

Stuff the great storm..that story just did it for me Mike!

[Faymondo]

I remember it well in the days before I had kids and was allowed out for some serious xmas eve drinking. I was in Liverpool city centre and a huge piece of corrogated iron whizzed past us. Just a shame I was recording temps only then.

[BUTTERFLY]

"However, I'm sure there was one the following year which affected Devon."

This was probably Boxing Day (26th December) 1998. I remember it as I had to go to work from 4 pm to 10.30pm and not long after I arrived the power went off (fortunately the company has generators). The power was also off until nearly 10.30 pm at home, but it came on again just before I arrived. I remember seeing power lines down (hopefully not live!) on the pavements when driving home. We were quite fortunate compared with other places in North Armagh (some people were without electricity for 4 days or so!). There was a lot of criticism of the Northern Ireland Electricity Service for only having a skeleton staff on (although the storm was well forecast), and perhaps as a result, when there was a forecast of another severe storm about a year later, they seemed to have got their act together.