[Nigel Bolton]

With all the strong winds around at the moment, it is interesting for me to remember a nasty gale that occurred 38 years ago, a gale I have never seen any real literature about, and yet it was unusual in its development, and the fact it allegedly gave Denmark and the Netherlands one of their worst storms on record. The storm seemed to emanate as a warm frontal break-away low forward of what appears to be an ex tropical storm or a sub-tropical low over the western Atlantic on the 11^th of November. This initial low had been slow moving for several days.

However, the breakaway low moved away rapidly from its parent. As it moved into UK waters, it deepened very rapidly, and brought severe gales or storm force winds to many central areas of the United Kingdom. Gusts of up to 65 or 70kt occurred across parts of East Anglia with damage to buildings and trees. I remember this gale well whilst living in northwest Essex, as the roof blew off a neighbour’s car port and landed in the road outside the house. I can remember the screeching sound of this roof moving along the ground as each gust got underneath.

This low moved away eastwards across the North Sea and continued to deepen, bringing winds of near hurricane force to Denmark and northern Netherlands with gusts in excess of 80 knots.

What makes me write this, is although it was a severe gale, there appears to be very little record of it, and I cannot remember if there were any human casualties. What I can remember is, was that the rain preceding the gale was very heavy for around three hours during the evening of the 12th, with the strongest of the winds occurring a few hours later in the small hours of the 13^th. It has also taught me to be very wary of warm front breakaways.

N.

 

[John Mason]

Can't remember that one Nigel - the first big storm I remember vividly was the Jan 1976 mega-hoolie. Interesting account though :)

Cheers - John 

[waghorn]

Nigel,

as it happens I put a post about this storm in the TORRO forum yesterday. Lamb (Historic Storms of the North Sea ..., p178) has an entry for it. He states 50 deaths for the UK and continent. He suggests possible tornado activity, though TORRO has no records for this date. Another possibility is a Sting Jet given the synoptic chart and the narrow damage swathe across E Anglia. (Damage on the continent likely CCB jet related).

Another rather similar storm occured on 2-3 April 1973.

Anybody can add any more information I'd be interested...

A project to simulate some of these storms from Reanalysis data, going back to the '60s, is being considered at the Hazards Research Centre. This would give us more insight into mesoscale structures of such storms and mechanisms responsible for damaging winds.

David

[Nigel Bolton]

David,

Interesting. I did not realise that the 1972 storm was so deadly. Normally I can remember when there were casualties, and certainly the 1976 storm that John mentions is one of those storms, the worst storm of my life time until the storm of October 1987. I believe there were 28 deaths in the UK on 2nd Jan and over 50 in Europe on the 3rd.

The 1976 storm almost certainly had a sting jet. The Wattisham wind profile shows a sudden increase of wind around 10 pm with a mean of 56kt and a gust of 84kt. During the strongest part of that storm, the sky was clear of cloud, suggesting a 'sting jet hole' had developed on the southwestern side.

I can also remember the storm of April 1973. I cannot remember much rain, but the wind was at its strongest during the mid to late morning and into the afternoon. During the height of the gale, the weather was dry, but cloudy at my location. One attribute I can remember, was the school lunch hour, when we were all allowed to play outside, and we were all blown down the playing field, making it back to the school building was quite an effort. It is also very late in the season for such a severe gale.

N.

[Ian Williams]

Interesting thread Nigel, I was only 9 years old, living in West Sussex so don`t really remember it

[Nigel Bolton]

Another intense low that may have been sting-jetty was one that crossed the southern UK on 16th Jan 1974. This low, althiough weaker, did have some similar attributes to the Burn's Day storm in 1990, IIRC.

N.

[Mothman]

Jan 1974 max gusts in Ireland. No idea of data so may not be the 16th, but seems likely.

some of the following are highest on record for station

Claremorris 96
Birr 85
Valentia 87
Cork Airport 94
Malin Head 87
Roches Point 83

[BUTTERFLY]

Kilkeel in Co. Down recorded a gust of 124 mph (108 knots) on 12th January 1974, the highest recorded gust in Northern Ireland (see http://www.metoffice...te/uk/extremes/); thus the speeds given at Claremorris, etc, above, may also be around 12th.

P.K. Rohan's 1986 book "The Climate of Ireland" states on page 139) that "A storm which passed to the north-west of the country on the night of 11th-12th gave widespread gales, and record speeds were reported from a number of locations.....At Kilkeel in Co. Down winds reached a speed of 55.6 m/s (108 kt) in gusts, the highest recorded for a station at sea level in Ireland. A storm on the night of 27th-28th also did widespread damage particularly in the west of the country."

It also refers to Table 55 on page 145 which list maximum gusts recorded at 17 stations (2 in Clare, 2 in Cork, 1 in Donegal, 2 in Dublin, 1 in Kerry, 1 in Kilkenny, 1 in Limerick, 3 in Mayo, 1 in Monaghan, 1 in Offaly, 1 in Westmeath and 1 in Wexford). These values range from 75 knots (c. 86 mph) at Dublin Airport on 12th January 1974 to 98 knots (c. 113 mph) at Malin Head, Co. Donegal, on 16th September 1961; Foynes Island, Co. Limerick, also recorded an estimated value of 98 knots on 18th January 1945 but the exact value is not known as the instrument went beyond the upper edge fo the scale; Claremorris, Co. Mayo, also recorded a gust of 97 knots (c. 112 mph) on 27th January 1974. and Quilty, Co. Clare, recorded an estimated 97 knots on 27th January 1920, but as with Foynes on 18.1.1945 the instrument went above the upper end of the scale. Other months mentioned in this table are 4th February 1957 (91 knots or c. 105 mph at Roche's Point, Co. Cork), 22nd October 1961 (87 knots or c. 100 mph at Rosslare, Co. Wexford, 14th January 1968 (86 knots or c. 99 mph at Glenamoy, Co. Mayo) and 13th December 1981 (81 knots or c. 93 mph at Casement Aerodrome, Co. Dublin). The periods covered vary from the period from 3rd January 1911 to 31st January 1961 at Quilty, Co. Clare to the period from 1st February 1967 to 31st December 1984 at Casement Aerodrome, Co. Dublin; Roche's Point, Co. Cork, had a break between 2 periods of 1st March 1905 to 8th January 1914, and 1st December 1955 to 31st December 1984); apart from Quilty, Roche's Point, and Foynes Island whose period of record ended on 31st May 1946, records generally went up to 31st December 1984.

Page 139 also states that a gust of 65 m/s (126 knots, or c. 145 mph) was recorded on an anemometer at the top of a television mast near the top of Kippure Mountain, Co. Wicklow, at an altitude of 754 metres or c. 2,474 feet above sea level) on 14th January 1968 when gusts of about 36 m/s (70 knots or c. 81 mph) were occurring at Casement Aerodrome, which is about 94 metres (c. 308 feet) above sea level and some 18 km. (c. 11 miles) away. The ratio on this occasion was approximately 1.8 to 1. Thus one might possibly expect gusts of c. 194 knots (c. 223 mph) to have occurred near the tops of the Mourne Mountains (which rise to 2,796 feet or c. 852 metres) when the gust of 108 knots (c. 124 mph) occurred at Kilkeel on 12th January 1974. This is actually well ahead of the highest wind speed recorded even at a high level station in Britain, of 173 mph on 20th March 1986 at Cairngorm Mountain (1245 m. or c. 4084 feet) in Scotland (see http://www.personal....er_in_march.htm). The highest gust at a low level station in Britain is 123 knots (c. 142 mph) at Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, on 13th February 1989 (see http://www.metoffice...te/uk/extremes/).

Table 56 on page 146 gives maximum recorded 10 minute average wind speeds recorded for each month, during the period 1st January 1940 to 21st December 1984 inclusive. Thse vary from 21.6 m/s (c. 42 knots or c. 48 mph) at Shannon Airport (Foynes) on 12th July 1943, to 36.6 m/s (c. 71 knots or c. 82 mph) also at Shannon Airport (Foynes) on 18th January 1945.