A deep low crosses the British Isles bringing storm-force winds to southern parts while blizzard conditions affected northern areas. 47 people lost their lives. Winds gusted over 92 mph on the west Wales, Cornwall and Kent coasts. Top gusts of 107 mph were recorded at Aberporth, Wales and Gwennap Head in Cornwall.

Positioned well to the north of the British mainland, the Shetland Isles is a naturally windy place with an average of 8 days of gale-force winds during a typical January. However, the depression which crossed Shetland as the new year of 1992 broke was no ordinary one. Dubbed the ‘Hogmanay Hurricane’, Shetland witnessed one of it’s worst storms in living memory.

At midday on 31 December a 985mb low was heading east across the North Atlantic. By 1800 hours that low had deepened to 966mb. At the stroke of the bells, a 957mb low was just NW of Faroe and by 6am New Years day it was 947mb.

Muckle Flugga lighthouse on the island of Unst set a new mean wind speed record of 73kts (89mph) with unofficial gusts clocked at 173 mph. The recording instrument was destroyed and so this wind speed remains unofficial. Another unofficial reading was taken by an oil rig NE of Unst which measured a mean wind of 125 mph with gusts of 194 mph. Severe structural damage affected many across Shetland.

 

It was a particularly stormy spell with one low after the next between January 8-17, 1993. One particular depression which became known as the Braer storm. Supported by a tight SSTA gradient, 270 mph jet stream and absorption of a secondary low to the SE, the Braer storm exploded becoming the deepest Atlantic low ever recorded with minimum central pressure of 914mb. The storm’s gale-force wind field was so vast it stretched from Canada to Europe.

Despite producing blizzard conditions across Scotland, the worst of the storm remained at sea as it was in a weakening phase prior to impacting the British Isles but not within producing a 121 mph gust on a weather ship Cumulus and North Rona off Scotland. The mainland reported gusts of 120 mph.

A powerful low battered the UK from early Christmas Eve through 29 December but peaked on Boxing Day with mean winds of 60 mph lasting over 12 hours. The storm underwent rapid cyclogenesis as it departed Ireland and crossed Scotland with a 19mb pressure drop within just 3 hours, bottoming out at 947mb at it’s peak.

Malin Head, Donegal bore the brunt of the strongest winds located on the storm’s southern flank. Sustained winds clocked 77 mph over a 10 minute average with gusts of 110 mph, just 3 mph shy of this site’s strongest ever wind gust of 113 mph set in 1961. Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire recorded a gust of 103 mph while even Glasgow suffered damaging gusts of 93 mph.

Cyclone Oratia 2000

An extremely intense depression which formed southwest of Ireland on 28 October 2000. This like many powerful lows underwent bombogenesis with pressure falling an astonishing 53mb within 18 hours as it passed south of Ireland and cut a path NNE across England and Wales. Pressure bottomed out at 941mb and over land, 951mb over England. This rapidly intensifying system developed such features as a sting jet which forced strongest winds downwards from a 150 mph jet aloft. Worst winds affected southern England and Wales with gusts in excess of 90 mph.

January 2005 storms

Two particularly stormy spells hit Ireland and UK. First being 7-8th and second 11-12th January 2000 with both resulting in widespread damage and new wind speed records.

The first system which saw a central pressure drop to 962mb focused it’s strongest winds on northern England with gusts of 127 mph recorded at Shap.

January 7/8 – as a very deep depression (reaching 962 mb) tracked north-eastwards across southern Scotland, strong winds battered England and Wales particularly northern areas. The tiny island of North Rona off Scotland to the west of Orkney recorded a gust of 134 mph, South Uist recorded 105 mph. Gusts in excess of 70 knots (81 mph) were recorded from the Isle of Man and north Wales across to the coast of north-east England. 88 knots (101 m.p.h.) was recorded at St Bees Head (Cumbria) and 89 knots (102 m.p.h.) at Aberdaron on the Lleyn peninsula (Gwynedd).

The second low saw a minimum pressure of 944mb with focus of strongest winds across Scotland where widespread gales caused disruption and for the first time since the Boxing Day storm of 1998, the complete closures and the Forth and Tay road bridges.

Barra recorded a gust of 106 mph while Stornoway clocked a 101 mph gust

January 2007 storms

A mild but frequently wet and windy spell peaked with a series of deep lows crossing the UK during January 2007. One particular storm between 17-18 January brought 99 mph gusts to Needles, Isle of Wight, 93 mph gusts to Dublin. Worst of the storm affected mainland Europe.

 

Ex Hurricane Katia 2011

Katia initially formed off Africa and crossed the tropical Atlantic becoming a Category 4 monster a few hundred miles north of Puerto Rico. Luckily for US, it remained a fish storm taking the familiar route around the Bermuda high. The typical transition process took place and Katia re intensified into a deep extra tropical cyclone and battered the Northern UK. According to the Met Office, this was the strongest former hurricane to hit the UK since Lili in 1996.

Cairngorm Summit recorded a gust of 98 mph while low elevation Capel Curig recorded a gust of 81 mph.

49ft waves were generated off Ireland’s Atlantic coast. Wind wiped sand along the Irish coast.

Storm Series December-January 2011/12

An incredibly active stormy pattern in which mere days separated intense Atlantic depressions.

‘Hurricane Bawbag’ 8 December 2011

A series of intense lows swept the British Isles between November 2011 and January 2012. The most notable system hit on 8 December, 2011 with the issuance of a red weather warning for the Central Belt.

As the system approached the UK, rapid cyclogenesis occurred with a pressure drop of 44mb within 24 hours and dubbed a weather bomb. This rapid intensification forced the red warning and aided in extreme wind gusts over the Cairngorms.

The pressure bottomed out at 956mb with Scotland bore the brunt of widespread gusts of 70-80 mph. Cairngorm summit recorded an exceptional mean wind speed of 117 mph with a gust of 165 mph.

‘Cyclone Hergen’ 13 December storm 2011

Just days following Hurricane Bawbag and another storm of great ferocity developed off Newfoundland. Bottoming out at 945mb off NW Ireland, wave heights of 67ft were generated off the Donegal coast.

‘Storm Ulli’ 31 December 2011

Considered worst storm since Boxing Day 1998, winds gusted to a damaging 102 mph in Edinburgh, 105 mph at Malin Head, 106 mph at Great Dun Fell.

3 January storm 2012

4th monster storm within 4 weeks and another even deeper depression hits bringing further destructive winds to the main population areas of Scotland.

Some of the more notable wind gusts include.

Blackford Hill, Edinburgh reported a record gust of 102 mph while Glasgow Bishopton recorded a record 90 mph, 112 mph at Great Dun Fell, 96 mph at Salsburgh, Lanarkshire, 93 mph at High Bradfield.

Ex-Hurricane Bertha 2012

Rainfall was probably the most noteworthy aspect to this storm. However, winds gusting 62 mph at Tain Range and 61 mph at Lossiemouth knocked out power. Cairngorm recorded a gust of 108 mph.

Bertha contributed to August 2012 being the wettest on record for northern Scotland.

Winter Storms 2013-14

Thanks to a large temperature differential over North America, the Atlantic atmosphere hosted a super charged jet stream which drove a conveyor belt of depressions one after the other with rapid succession into Western Europe.

The period between mid December 2013 and early January 2014, particularly 18-31 December saw the greatest frequency and bombardment of unusually deep lows into the UK. This made December 2013 stormiest on record probably followed by December 2011.

Storm of 5-6 December (North Sea Tidal flood)

Widespread severe gales for Scotland with gusts of 93 mph at Altnaharra but the prize goes to Aonach Mor where an incredible gust of 142 mph followed not far behind by a 136 mph gust over Cairngorm. In England a 112 mph gust was recorded at Great Dun Fell.

Storm of 18-19 December

An intense 947mb low close to NW Scotland generated particularly severe gusts over the Highland ridges with 125 mph over Cairngorm, 124 mph on Aonach Mor, 115 mph on Bealach na ba, 100 mph on Cairnwell.

Storm of 23-24 December

This storm dipped to an even more extreme depth of 927mb once again close to NW Scotland. Stornoway reported a sea level pressure of 936mb, the UK’s lowest since 1886 (127 years)

Once again much of Scotland endured 70-80 mph damaging gusts but the most extreme gusts yet again were focused over the Highlands with 117 mph clocked on Cairngorm.

Though windy, the 23-24th storm will be remembered for it’s big flooding rains across southern England and Wales

Storm of 26-27 December

This deep low focused it’s strongest winds across England and Wales this time with Aberdaron and Capel Curig reporting gusts of 109 mph and 94 mph respectively. However, Cairngorm still won the prize for highest gust of 136 mph.

Storm of 30-31 December

This system was more noted as a heavy rain rather than strong wind producer.

Winter 2013-14 will be long remembered as wettest with high frequency extreme lows which brought intense wind, rain, mountain snow.

Storm Desmond December 2015 (UK’s new wettest 24 hours on record)

A near identical low/high pressure setup developed early December 2015 as November 2009 when a deep tropical moisture plume connected Cumbria’s upslopes with the Caribbean. November 2009 saw the UK’s wettest 24 hour period on record until Storm Desmond came along in late 2015.

From Met Office: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/december2015

Storm Frank 29-30 December 2015

Storm Frank became a monster low with an astonishing 50mb pressure drop within just 12 hours over Iceland. The low became unusually deep!

With a long fetch of moist SW winds extending down into the subtropics, flash flooding occurred over many parts of Scotland.

Frank was responsible for record rainfall in Aberdeenshire.

Winds were destructive across parts of Scotland despite the centre of the storm up over Iceland.

Gusts exceeded 80 mph across the Northern Isles but once again Cairngorm reported an impressive gust of 132 mph.

Frank also drove tremendous heat all the way to the pole with temperatures going from -20s (average is -28C) to 0C.

 Storm Gertrude 29 January 2016

At the end of January, Storm Gertrude not only brought another stormy spell but a wintry spell.

While the worst conditions affected the far northern mainland and Northern Isles, gusts in excess of 80 mph through the Central Belt caused damage and widespread disruption.

Gertrude brought the strongest winds to Shetland in 16 years. Both Lerwick and Baltasound recording a gust of 105 mph, strongest since January 2000.

Incredible scenes off Shetland.

From the North Sea.

Many woke to a fresh covering of snow and through the day, winds brought blizzard conditions across parts of the Highlands.

Nightmare rush hour!

My daughter Holly got to enjoy her first taste of sledging thanks to Gertrude.

Storm Imogen 7-8 February 2016

Storm Imogen swept across Ireland and the British Isles as a major storm with gusts of 96 mph recorded at Needles, Isle of Wight.

However the long fetch of hurricane-force winds extending some 1,000 miles back across the Atlantic and the towering seas generated was probably the most notable aspect.

Wave heights of 54ft were reported off Ireland while 62ft was reported off St Ive’s, Cornwall.

Storm Angus 19-22 November 2016

The first named storm of the 2016-17 season and Storm Angus brought disruptive winds through the Channel with damage along parts of the South Coast where gusts exceeded 80 mph and rainfall topped 2 inches across inland parts.

Stormy Irish Sea and English Channel waters proved tricky for shipping. The collision between a commercial barge and passenger ferry. Passengers were stranded on heaving seas for up to 26 hours before docking at Fishguard.

Strongest winds hit 81 mph at Langdon Bay, Kent but Guernsey Airport reported a gust of 84 mph. Ships reported gusts of 106 mph over the open Channel.

Wild Christmas Weekend 2016

It was a wild Christmas weekend 2016 with two major storms systems dominating from early Christmas Eve through to late Boxing day. Wild swings in temperature, 80+mph low level wind gusts and 120+mph gusts over high ground on each of the three days…

Storm Barbara Christmas Eve 2016

Storm Barbara packed the greatest punch to the Northern and Western Isles where gusts topped 83 mph at Stella Ness and 117 mph over Cairngorm. However, the greatest winds remained offshore where wave heights of up to 50ft were recorded on K5 buoy a couple of hundred miles off Lewis.

Snow was the most noteworthy aspect to Barbara where she created blizzard-like conditions in the Highlands.

Storm Conor Christmas Day 2016

Christmas Eve’s Storm Barbara was immediately followed by much more intense Storm Conor which brought a weird, wacky and wild Christmas Day 2016 with peak gusts of 148 mph over Cairngorm, exceptional pre-frontal warmth followed by a last minute post cold frontal white Christmas.

First came the warmth

and the big waves…

Then the snow for a last minute white Christmas as turned.

Then came Boxing Day’s gales and snow across a broader area of Scotland.

Winds were strongest during Christmas Day with Cairngorm recording a peak gust of 148 mph while Boxing Day delivered a bitter gust of 125 mph.

At around 6am, Cairngorm was reporting an air temperature of -7.5C but by that evening it shot up to +11C.

Storm Doris 23 February 2017

Storm Doris arrived just in time for my birthday and underwent bomogenesis with a pressure fall of 24mb within 24 hours prior to hitting the UK. Winds were damaging with Capel Curig recording the highest gust at 94 mph.

It was another white birthday for me thanks to Doris.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Met Office

Ex-Hurricane Ophelia October 2017

The 2017-18 UK/Ireland/Europe storm season got off to a wild and relatively early start. Towards the end of a busy 2017-18 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Ophelia became the most easterly ‘major’ Atlantic hurricane on record, peaking in intensity (115 mph sustained winds) south of the Azores on the 14 October.

Ophelia took a north, northeast track brushing the Azores and a few days later, roared shore on Ireland’s SW coast.

With anticipation of Ophelia tracking across Ireland and delivering a significant impact, Met Eireann issued a ‘Red Warning’ as a track up the west side of the island and strongest winds to the east of the centre meant much of the island was in the firing line of strongest winds.

Just 48 hours after peaking as a record breaking hurricane south of the Azores, Ophelia officially hit Ireland’s SW coast with gusts of 97 mph along with a 10-MINUTE sustained wind of 69 mph at Roaches Point, Co Cork. Just offshore at Fastnet Rock, a gust of 119 mph was recorded along with 43ft seas.

The storm’s said to have produced Ireland’s strongest hit in some 50 years with damage, disruption to ferry, air and road travel as well as widespread loss of power.

Further north and Orlock Head, Co Down reported gusts of 71 mph with 50,000 homes estimated to have lost power across Northern Ireland and the height of the storm.

Stormy September 2018

Back to back Storms Bronagh & Ali hit hard, setting new NI wind record!

Following one of the UK and Ireland’s warmest summer’s and prolonged high pressure dominance, September arrived with quite the abrupt pattern change. A large temperature difference between mid and north Atlantic powered an unusually strong jet stream with drove a series of unusually deep depressions by September standards across Ireland and UK.

First came Storm Bronagh…

Did the #wind wake you up last night? #StormBronagh has now cleared away, but here are the strongest wind gusts from overnight ????️???? pic.twitter.com/dTN9OI43cr

— Met Office (@metoffice) September 21, 2018

Followed by even stronger, Storm Ali…

Ali’s southern flank contained a swathe of particularly strong winds more typical of a deep mid-winter cyclone.

Storm Ali was a notable autumn windstorm forcing the Met Office to issue an Amber wind warning throughout Northern Ireland.

A wind gust of 91 mph at Killowen, Co Down set a new Northern Ireland wind record for the month of September.

Mace Head in the Republic of Ireland recorded a 90 mph wind gust.

The Tay Road Bridge was forced to close to all traffic as wind gusts hit 102 mph.

Glasgow Airport recorded a wind gust of 72 mph.

Storm Ciara February 2020

Storm Ciara was the first of two back to back storms to hit the UK and Ireland during February 2020.

Originating over the southern US and causing heavy snow over the Northeast, New England and eastern Canada with big impacts on Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. She also helped generate flooding rains and tornadoes in the Southeast, as the system exited North America and crossing unusually warm waters including the Gulf Stream, Ciara underwent rapid cyclogenesis with pressure falling to 943mb prior to hitting Europe.

While she won’t be known for producing the UK’s strongest wind gusts, a still noteworthy 97 mph gust was achieved at Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight and produced widespread 50-70 mph gusts which brought damage and disruption to road, rail, air and sea transport.

Honister Pass, Cumbria recorded 179.8mm (7.8 in) of rain over the course of that weekend with widespread flooding.

Extract from Wikipedia

High winds created by Storm Ciara over the United Kingdom and the North Atlantic meant that a British Airways Boeing 747-400 with the registration G-CIVP^[20] broke the record for the fastest subsonic flight between John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and London Heathrow. The aircraft was propelled by a strong tailwind and the jet stream across the Atlantic, completing the journey in 4 hours and 56 minutes. During the flight, the aircraft hit a maximum ground speed of 825 mph (1,328 km/h) and arrived 78 minutes ahead of schedule.^[21] Alongside two Virgin Atlantic flights which arrived around the same time, it surpassed the previous world record of 5 hours and 13 minutes, set by a Norwegian 787 Dreamliner in January 2018.

Ciara didn’t stop at the UK, she caused havoc deep into Europe and as far east as Poland. Gusts of 87 mph was recorded in Germany’s Harz Mountains while Austria 93 mph in the Tyrol region.

Storm Dennis February 2020

Just like Storm Ciara less than a week before, Storm Dennis developed over North America and rapidly deepened over the open North Atlantic thanks to a powerful jet stream and perfect atmospheric ingredients coming together.

Dennis saw a pressure drop of 84mb within 54 hrs and bottoming out at an astonishing 920mb just south of Iceland. Known for one of the greatest pressure drops and central pressure’s on record. At peak intensity, it’s said winds were gusting 140 mph.

While Dennis never directly affected the UK and eventually make a Norway landfall as a weakened system, his impacts were still felt widely.

For the UK, Dennis will likely be remembered more for his rain rather than wind with several rivers in Wales and southern England reaching their highest levels on record. The MO issued a red warning for rain in Wales but rivers burst their banks in parts of Northern Ireland, Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland.

Storm Arwen November 2021

Storm Arwen will likely be remembered for being an unusual storm in the fact that it came straight out of the north and produced an unusually strong north wind and brought an unusually ‘cold feel’ not typically associated with UK windstorms.

The damage was significant, possibly due to 70-90 mph gusts coming from the ‘wrong direction’, straight out of the north compared to the more typical west or southwest direction. I believe this may have caused more trees than usual to snap/fall.

Prompting a red warning down Scotland’s east coast and northeast England with wider amber and yellow warning’s covering a broad area, Arwen produced wicked northerly winds.

Being a colder storm, Arwen caused snow havoc on the M62 with 120 lorries stuck. A wind gust of 98 mph was recorded at Brizlee Wood, Northumberland. (unusually strong for this area) There was also reports of a 110 mph gust in the village of Settle, North Yorkshire.

The 98 mph gust was the strongest for Northeast England since a 102 mph gust was recorded at Lynemouth, Northumberland back in January 1984.

Shap, Cumbria only managed a maximum temperature of -0.3C with overnight temperatures dropping to -8.7C in the wake of the storm. Wind chill values during the event was particularly low.

On the other side of the UK and North Channel, Orlock Head, Co Down reported a gust of 87 mph.

Storm Malik January 2022

Storm Malik was the first in a series of significant storms to impact the UK, Ireland and continent as Atlantic jet stream winds strengthened late January and particularly into February.

Named by the Danish, Malik caused havoc across Europe with death and injury affecting many countries as far east as Poland and Lithuania where gusts of 93 mph were recorded. Falling trees killed 1 in Aberdeenshire and 1 in Staffordshire.

While damaging winds affected a broad swathe from UK to eastern Europe, a sustained 1-minute wind speed of 118-mph and gusts of 147 mph were recorded on top of Cairngorm summit. Cairnwell recorded 120 mph.

Storm Corrie January 2022

Quickly following Malik, Storm Corrie arrived prompting an Amber warning for Aberdeenshire where wind gusts of 93 mph were recorded at Inverbervie. A yellow wind warning extended down the east coast to Norfolk.

Storm Eunice February 2022

Billed as one of the strongest storms to hit southern England since 1987, in came Storm Eunice. While not as severe as the October 87 storm, Eunice did cause havoc and produced a new wind record for England and the south coast.

Eunice became particularly dangerous on approach to southern Ireland and the UK as she was rapidly deepening and developing a sting jet as it was to hit land. The core of strongest winds were focused in the heavily populated south which forced the Met Office to issue a red warning for the Southwest of England, South Wales as well as London and the Southeast.

One of the most notable aftermath images from Eunice is likely to be the partially blown off roof of the O2 arena.

Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight experienced a remarkable wind gust of 122 mph exceeding it’s previous wind record of 115 mph and surpassing England’s strongest low level wind gust of 118 mph at Gwennap Head, Cornwall on December 15, 1979.

On the northern flank of Storm Eunice, heavy snow caused havoc across parts of Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Storm Eunice bringing heavy snow causing treacherous conditions on The Glenshane this morning with multiple collisions reported too. Stay safe everyone. @angie_weather @bbcniweather @WeatherCee @barrabest @Louise_utv pic.twitter.com/cUjQfn3qYd

— Colleen Webb Photography (@ColleenWebb0) February 18, 2022

Whilst the media’s gaze is turned towards storm Eunice, the snow continues to pile up in north east Scotland. Multiple road closures. pic.twitter.com/4owvZXzbFj

— Iain Cameron (@theiaincameron) February 18, 2022

Storm Otto February 2023

While named by the Danish, Storm Otto is the first storm of significance to impact the UK since the trio of Dudley, Eunice and Franklin hit inside a week exactly a year ago to the month.

In a nameless 2022-23 season for the UK, Otto packed probably a stronger punch than expected with damaging and near record wind gusts in Scotland’s far north and North east England.

Intense winds associated with SW flank of 'still strengthening' #StormOtto affecting N Scotland. Drive home was hairy with a real pelting from small twigs even small branches which are littering roads… @MorayFirthRadio @trafficscotland @NWTrunkRoads @BBCScotWeather @BBCGaryR pic.twitter.com/wLTRCXBvz9

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) February 17, 2023

Tain Range, Ross-shire recorded a wind gust of 81 mph. (2nd strongest wind gust since records began in 1992 and only beaten by a gust of 82 mph set back in January 2015.)

Inverbervie on the Aberdeenshire coast reported the strongest official low level gust of 83 mph (strongest February wind gust since records began in 1992). Lossiemouth, Moray saw a gust of 81 mph.

Both Wick Airport, Caithness and Loch Glascarnoch, Ross-shire recorded a gust of 78 mph.

Cairngorm summit reported the strongest high level wind gust of 122 mph.

Further south and Emley Moor, West Yorkshire reported a gust as high as 75 mph.

Unofficial gusts as high as 101 mph was reported in Invergordon, Ross-shire.

In the wake of Otto, blizzard conditions was experienced over high routes in the Highlands.

Back on Friday afternoon 17.2°C was reached at Pershore while winds early that morning reached 81mph at Tain (2nd strongest on record). Inverbervie 83 mph with unofficial gusts of 101mph at Invergordon. Following morning saw heavy snow, near blizzard cond over the Highlands #Otto pic.twitter.com/pRaMdEkIY1

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) February 19, 2023

Easing a little now, so back to work ! Albeit a little harder, more dangerous work. #stormotto #extremefishing pic.twitter.com/r6wrTNioFU

— John A Buchan (@JohnABuchan1) February 17, 2023

After getting battered by 80 mph winds yesterday morning, winter returned this morning! #A9 #snow pic.twitter.com/XLVPESRsei

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) February 18, 2023