>A winter non-stop winter of powerful Atlantic storms throws biggest punch to UK yet!

Written by Mark Vogan on January 3, 2012 in Rest of Europe with 0 Comments

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Windy again tomorrow for UK but not nearly as severe

Today’s Weather Headlines

Europe Latest

A winter non-stop winter of powerful Atlantic storms throws biggest punch to UK yet!

Astonishing 102 mph were recorded in Edinburgh’s Blackford Hill and at Malin Head, Co Donegal while the Forth Road Bridge and Isle of Islay recorded gusts of 97 mph. This storm was BY FAR the worst of the season with large swathes of damage ranging from downed trees, snapped signs, lorries blown over to roofs being blown off….

Heavy damage: A large tree rests on three cars after being blown over in Havant, Hampshire

(Daily Mail)

Your Facebook Storm Reports from across Ireland & UK today

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Essex

“Took hours to get from Rochester in Kent to Tilbury Essex as they closed the tunnel due to high winds.

Now stuck in stationary traffice on the way back due to an accident. Wish people would drive more carefully in bad Weather.

It’s been very windy here with a few spells of torrential blowing rain.”

Matthew W

Redruth, Cornwall

“the rain is coming in my closed vents in my NEW kitchen windows thats how heavy it was a moment ago here in Redruth Cornwall!!”

Penny C

Hull

“Had the worst hail/rain/wind storm in Hull this morning. Most insane thing ive seen in my life!”

James B

Edinburgh

“The wind seems to have calmed down a bit from earlier here in Edinburgh!! We had dangerous gusts earlier hitting violent storm levels, I would say we are now at severe gales level!!”

Stephen R

Co Fermanagh

“Asda roof blew of no wrk for my sister in co.fermanagh real bad sleet ere now”

Catherine G

Northwest England

“Extremely windy here, just started to rain sideways too, just in time for the school run.. st helens, up north-west eng”

Mandi M

Ireland

“Mad winds here in ireland all day !!!!! Sligo ,Donegal v bad , Power lines and phone lines about 7000 Homes effected”

Sean D

Kilcreggan

“My inlaws have rang on the mobile saying power and phones off and the village is cut off with downed trees everywhere! the worst they can remember apparently and they have lived in the area all their lives”

Des A

Southwest Ireland

“getting battered here in South west Ireland the wind is terrible with Sleet blowing with rain really horrible! Dangerous wouldnt like to be driving in this!”

Julie G

Caithness

“Caithness – snow and frost last night, wet and windy this morning. Roll on summer! Or what passes for summer up here…”

Suzi M

Lancaster, Lancashire

“Quite windy here in lancaster, dry but overcast”
Kenny B

Northern Ireland

“worst night of wind ever here in N. Ireland but calmed down past hour”

Kerry M

Kent

“My back door keeps getting blown open had to bolt it shut lol. Seen a fair few bins blown over this morning. Driving through Maidstone town centre was interesting, not as busy as usual though!”

Truddie C

Latest Stories

100mph winds and blizzards batter Scotland
STV

Lorries blown over in 90mph winds force closure of M8 Kingston Bridge
STV

Severe weather causes damage around UK
BBC

Scotland storm: Gales batter the country
BBC

It’s Happening Again: Damaging Storm Strikes UK
ACCUWEATHER.COM

Strong winds causing disruption in Northern Ireland
BBC

Why such powerful winds through the Central Belt today?

A STING JET was responsible for today’s extreme wind gusts across the Scottish Central Belt where Glasgow recorded an impressive 91 mph gust while Blackford Hill in Edinburgh recorded a very impressive 102 mph! It’s said that a sting jet was also present during the infamous ‘Great storm of 87’

Wikipedia’s Explaination as to what a Sting Jet is…

A sting jet is a meteorological phenomenon which is believed to be the cause of the most damaging winds in European windstorms.
Following reanalysis of the Great Storm of 1987, led by Professor Keith Browning at the University of Reading, researchers identified a mesoscale flow where the most damaging winds were shown to be emanating from the evaporating tip of the hooked cloud head on the southern flank of the cyclone. This cloud, hooked like a scorpion’s tail, gives the wind region its name the “Sting Jet”.^[1]
It is thought that a zone of strong winds, originating from within the mid-tropospheric cloud head of an explosively deepening depression, are enhanced further as the “jet” descends, drying out and evaporating a clear path through snow and ice particles. The evaporative cooling leading to the air within the jet becoming denser, leading to an acceleration of the downward flow towards the tip of the cloud head when it begins to hook around the cyclone centre. Windspeeds in excess of 80 kn (150 km/h) can be associated with the Sting jet.^[2]
It has since been reproduced in high-resolution runs with the mesoscale version of the Unified Model. The Sting jet is distinct from the usual strong-wind region associated with the warm conveyor belt and main cold front. There are indications that conditional symmetric instability also plays a role in its formation but the importance of these processes remains to be quantified.^[3]

Today’s very powerful Atlantic low follows a string of 4 significant, disruptive and damaging storms since the Dec 8, today was the third since Christmas and worst of all

US Latest

Very cold air begins assault on US following balmy autumn

My Forecasted Coldest Lows for This Week

Caribou, ME -18, Boston, MA 6, Orange, MA -4, Albany, NY 0, Hartford, CT 5, New York, NY 13, Newark, NJ 10, Sussex, NJ 2, Scranton, PA 6, Philadelphia, PA 15, Atlantic City, NJ 15, Baltimore, MD 17, Wash, DC 17, Atlanta, GA 19, Tallahassee, FL 22. (Temps in F).

VIDEO: Arctic Cold Grips East
ACCUWEATHER.COM