Located in the northeast Atlantic and often in the direct firing line of the jet stream and it’s storms, the UK and Ireland can be a very windy place. In particularly unsettled spells in the heart of winter, it can be the windiest place on earth.
Storms can hit at any time of year with 100+ mph gusts possible in exposed high mountain location, any month of the year. Most frequent from October to March.
Some winter’s are rather benign with little storms, some more wintry than stormy like 2009-10 while others can bring one storm after another like the winters of 1989-90, 1992-93, 2006-07, 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2014-15 as well as the back end of the 2021-22 season.
Born in February 1983, I’ve lived through countless damaging storms. In fact, aged just 4 and living in central London (Camberwell), I experienced first hand, the full wrath of one of Britain’s worst storms.
Despite being very young with memories foggy, I still recall the night of October 15th to this day. This very event will always remain special as I believe this seeded my passion for weather and extremes today.
Where are the windiest parts of the UK
Credit: Met Office
I must admit I love a good storm and the sound of wind and rain battering the window at night. I am lucky enough to have visited 3 of Scotland’s high mountain weather stations and likely windiest places on the British Isles where gales occur throughout the year.
CAIRN GORM
Elevated at 4,080ft asl, Cairn Gorm is Britain’s 6th highest mountain and likely home to Britain’s wildest weather station where winds of 100 mph can any time of year. This station also holds the UK record for strongest wind gust ever recorded. The weather station has been in operation since 1978 and maintained by Herriot Watt University.
Credit: Mark Vogan
Credit: Mark Vogan
Last August saw Cairn Gorm record a wind gust of 115 mph. Back in December 2011, the exposed site recorded an official wind gust of 165 mph, which came close to the UK wind gust record of 173 mph set in March 1986.
AONACH MOR
Elevation 4,006ft, Aonach Mor (near Fort William) is Britain’s 8th highest mountain. The weather station near to the summit opened in 1991, the Met Office began recording wind speeds here in February 1992. The strongest wind gust ever measured at this site was 151 mph back in January 1993.
Credit: Mick Knapton
In December 2013 during Storm Xaver, Aonach Mor recorded a 142 mph wind gust. The strongest of the storm.
Credit: Mark Vogan
THE CAIRNWELL
Elevation 3,061ft, this mountain site opened in 1993 and began recording in January 1994. The strongest ever wind gust for the site was 142 mph set in December 2008.
Credit: Wdgwdgwdg
Credit: Mark Vogan
Here’s a glance at some of the most noteworthy storms of my lifetime.
Great Storm 1987
Deepest pressure: 953mb
Strongest wind gust: 135 mph (France) 115 mph England
Cost: £1.5 billion
A system which formed in the Bay of Biscay and rapidly intensified as it tracked NE crossing northwest France up through the spine of southern England October 15-16, 1987. Within the storm centre pressure fell from 970mb to 953mb within 24 hours but rose by an incredible 20mb within 3 hours behind. A ‘sting jet’ accompanied this rare storm situation with gusts of wind reaching a rare 100 mph across a large swathe of southern England including Greater London.
Within the Greater London perimeter, a gust of 107 mph was achieved, 99 mph at Gatwick Airport and 94 mph in central London. The damage was immense costing over £1 billion.
Over 15 million trees were flattened.
The strongest recorded wind gust of 135 mph was at Pointe du Roc, Granville Normandy. For England it was 115 mph at Shoreham-by-Sea.
February 1989
142 mph gust recorded at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh
In the midst of a very mild winter and month, a powerful depression crossed Scotland on 13 February 1989 which generated a wind gust of 142 mph at Kinnaird lighthouse in Fraserburgh. This set a new low level wind record for the UK.
Picture of Kinnaird lighthouse in a windy day below.
Source: Land of the Big Sky http://landofthebigsky-jill.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/
Burn’s Day Storm 1990
On the 25 January 1990 the Burns Day storm struck. One of eight storms to sweep the UK and Ireland between January and March.
The synoptic chart for 12 GMT, 25 January 1990.
New Years Day storm 1992
Braer Storm January 1993
Boxing Day Storm 1998
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.
NHC
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.
Credit: Niallio77
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.
Credit: Met Office
Credit: Met Office
Credit: Met Office
High waves, white caps and foam streaks off the west coast of Scotland during storm “Friedhelm” on 8th December 2011 as photographed from about 450m above sea level onboard the UK research aircraft FAAM BAe146. (Credit: Peter Knippertz)
‘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.
Credit: Met Office
Bertha contributed to August 2012 being the wettest on record for northern Scotland.
Credit: Met Office
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.
Credit: Met Office
Credit: Met Office
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.
Credit: Met Office
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)
Credit: Met Office
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.
Credit: Met Office
Storm of 30-31 December
This system was more noted as a heavy rain rather than strong wind producer.
Credit: Met Office
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!
Credit: RGS Weather
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.
Credit: Nick Mitchell
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.
Credit: Met Office
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.
Credit: Stewart Thomson @StewartThomson4
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.
Credit: Mark Vogan
Nightmare rush hour!
Credit: Traffic Scotland
My daughter Holly got to enjoy her first taste of sledging thanks to Gertrude.
Credit: Mark Vogan
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.
Credit: PA
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.
Credit: earth nullschool
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.
Credit: Met Office
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.
Ferries arrive at the port of Dover as Storm Angus hit the UK with gusts anticipated to reach up to 80mph.
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.
Slochd Summit Credit: Mark Vogan
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
Credit: Met Office
and the big waves…
Credit: Calum Toogood @CalumToogood
Then the snow for a last minute white Christmas as turned.
Credit: Met Office
Then came Boxing Day’s gales and snow across a broader area of Scotland.
Credit: BBC Weather
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.
Credit: Met Office
It was another white birthday for me thanks to Doris.
BBC Weather
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.
Credit: NOAA
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.
Credit: BBC Weather
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.
Credit: wxcharts.com
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.
Credit: Weather Quest
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.
Credit: NOAA
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.
Credit: NASA
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 (@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
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
Storm Babet October 2023
Named by the Met Office on 16th October, Storm Babet developed and intensified over the Bay of Biscay. Slowly drifting north with a strong blocking high to the north, it came ashore in Southwest England on the 18th October bringing unusually strong ESE winds with heavy rain along unusually slow moving northbound fronts.
From Met Office
Storm Babet brought exceptional rainfall to parts of eastern Scotland with 150 to 200mm
falling in the wettest areas and the Met Office issuing two red warnings for rain. For the
county of Angus – coinciding with this red warning area – 19 October 2023 was, by a wide
margin, the wettest day on record in a series from 1891. Heavy, persistent and widespread
rain also affected much of England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 18th to 20th, with
100mm falling fairly widely. This was the third-wettest independent 3-day period for
England and Wales in a series from 1891, while the Midlands provisionally recorded its
wettest 3-day period on record. This rain came on top of very wet weather earlier in October
with some central and eastern parts of England and Scotland recording more than twice
the October whole-month average rainfall in the first three weeks of the month.
Babet also brought some very strong winds, gusting at over 50Kt (58mph) across northeast England and much of Scotland. A blocking area of high pressure over Scandinavia
prevented Babet clearing the UK eastwards into the North Sea and as a result these wind
speeds were sustained for a prolonged period. The persistent heavy rain and strong wind
resulted in atrocious weather conditions for a sustained period, with a gust of 67Kt (77mph)
at Inverbervie (Kincardineshire) and winds gusting at over 100Kt (115mph) across
Scotland’s mountain summits.
Two separate nights, two stationary rain bands driving rain into upslopes of eastern Scotland forced two red warnings…
Storm Ciarán Oct/Nov 2023
Storm Ciaran was a powerful Atlantic cyclone containing widespread damaging winds particularly across the Channel Islands and Northern France where it was compared to the ’87 Storm.
At it’s peak, central pressure fell to a record 953mb over the English Channel setting a new England November low pressure record.
Here’s a pressure chart comparison of Storm Ciaran and the 1987 storm, both at their peak. Note Ciaran tracked further south.
Record Wind Gusts Over Channel Island and Northern France
While gusts of 96 mph were recorded at Needles on the Isle of Wight, the core of strongest winds was along the southern flank of the Channel, beneath the sting jet.
Located beneath a ‘sting jet’, the Channel Islands recorded their strongest ever winds. Officially 104 mph is the top gust but instruments such as the LIDAR system recorded gusts as high as 108 mph. Jersey Airport and St Helier Harbour recorded gusts of 101mph.
The highest recorded non-tornadic wind gust during Storm Ciarán was 129 mph (207 km/h) at Pointe du Raz in Brittany, France, on November 2, 2023.
Other significant wind gusts recorded during the storm include:
- Jersey: A gust of 104 mph (167 km/h) was reported in St. Clement. The island was also hit by a tornado with wind speeds of up to 186 mph (290 km/h).
- United Kingdom: The Needles on the Isle of Wight recorded a wind gust of 96 mph (154 km/h).
- Italy: Punta Ala recorded gusts up to 122 mph (197 km/h).
- Ireland: A gust of 90 mph (145 km/h) was reported at Hook Lighthouse.
- Guernsey: Winds reached 78 mph (125 km/h) at the airport.
Storm Gerrit December 2023
Storm Isha & Jocelyn January 2024
STORMS ISHA AND JOCELYN SWEPT THROUGH THE UK & IRELAND IN A MATTER OF DAYS OF EACH OTHER IN WHAT’S BEEN A HYPER-ACTIVE STORM SEASON CAUSED BY EXTREME TEMPERATURE CONTRASTS OVER NORTH AMERICA…
Storm Isha was a powerful cyclone said by some, to be the strongest in many years. At her peak, pressure fell to 947mb and with gusts exceeding 90 mph, she forced the issuance of 2 Amber warnings and a red warning.
Storm Isha was somewhat unusual due to it’s large area of damaging winds covering a distance from north to south coast of the UK hence the large Amber warning area below.
TOP GUSTS: 124 mph Cairngorm, 115 mph Aonach Mor, 107 mph Tay Road Bridge, 99 mph Brizlee Wood, Northumberland, 90 mph Capel Curig, Conwy.
There was an unconfirmed report of a 168 mph gust at the Glencoe Ski Centre.
Storm Jocelyn was less deep bottoming out at around 961mb of the two but she packed a punch producing significant gusts in excess of 100 mph over the mountains and 70 mph at low levels.
An impressive 140 mph gust over Cairngorm while Capel Curig, Conwy gusted to 97 mph.
Storm Ingunn Jan/Feb 2024
Hot on the heels of Isha and Jocelyn, Storm Ingunn was next on the conga line of powerful Atlantic lows cross the North Atlantic and rapidly deepen in the northeast portion of the ocean.
Starting off the US East Coast tamely, Ingunn crossed the pond with gradual strengthening. Between the area south of Iceland and Norway, the system rapidly deepening from 985 to 945mb within 24 hours bringing damaging winds to the northern British Isles but record breaking winds through the Faroes and against the Scandinavian coast.
As Ingunn underwent Rapid Cyclogenesis on 31st January, the system got the name from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.
According to met.no, the exposed coastal mountain site of Kvaløyfjellet in Sømna set a new Norwegian record for average wind of 122 mph, gusting 140 mph! Storm Ingunn was considered Norway’s worst in 30 years.
Located on a high plateau in the Lapland mountains of Northern Sweden near the Norwegian border, Stekenjokk (1073m) set a new national average wind speed record of 115 mph over an 11 minute period.
A private weather station in Heltnin on the Faroes reported a gust of 155 mph while the nearby Vagar Airport recorded a gust of 108 mph.
Storm Ingunn saw a pressure drop of 35mb within 24 hours with lowest pressure around 940mb, slightly above Norway’s lowest of 938.5mb set in 1907.
Storm Ashley October 2024
Storm Ashley, named by Met Éireann impacted Ireland and the UK around the 20th October as a strong but not exceptional autumn low. However, rapid cyclogenesis occurred with pressure falling from 988mb to 952mb between 6am and 6am 19-20th.
There was travel disruption with train cancellations between London and northern England. With a track passing to the NW of Scotland, the strongest winds and wettest weather was felt in the North and West with flights and ferries cancelled.
Excerpt from Met Office
The map below shows maximum gust speeds across the UK on 20 October 2024, with the
strongest winds of 50 to 60Kt (58 to 69mph) or more across north-western parts of the UK. The
highest gusts were 71Kt (82mph) at Aberdaron, Gwynedd, 70Kt (81mph) at Killowen, County
Down, 68Kt (78mph) at Tiree, Argyll and 66Kt (76mph) at Inverbervie (Kincardineshire). Wind
gusts were especially high across upland areas, with 105Kt (121mph) at Cairngorm Summit,
Inverness-shire (at 1237masl). The five mountain stations in the network – shown on the map –
Cairngorm Summit, Aonach Mor (at 1130masl, Inverness-shire), Bealach na Ba (at 773masl,
Wester Ross), Cairnwell (at 928masl, Aberdeenshire) and Great Dun Fell (at 847masl, Cumbria)
all recorded gusts in excess of 100mph (87Kt).
Storm Bert November 2024
Storm Bert was a deep and cold low with a minimum central pressure down to 940mb.
3 days of heavy rain dropped 100mm+, locally 150mm+ over upslopes of Dartmoor, Wales and Lake District, heavy snow and blizzard conditions forcing an amber snow and ice warning was placed for parts of central Scotland, which included parts of Angus, Perth and Kinross, Stirling, Aberdeenshire, the Highlands, and Argyll and Bute.
Snowfall wasn’t confined to Scotland, 18cm at Middleton Hillside, Derbyshire, 11cm at Bingley, West Yorkshire, 21cm at Copley, County Durham and 10cm at Redesdale Camp, Northumberland.
The strongest gust (113 mph) was recorded on Cairngorm. Capel Curig reported an 82 mph gust and Berry Head, Devon a 76 mph gust.
Storm Darragh December 2024
Following on from Ashley, Bert and Connall, Storm Darragh became the 4th of a lively start to the 2024-25 season. A powerful system which saw pressure bottom out at 977mb forcing an issuance of 2 Red wind warnings for both Ireland and Wales.
The strongest gust from Darragh was 99 mph along the Normandy coast in France while a gust of 96 mph was clocked at Berry Head, Devon, 93 mph Capel Curig, Conwy.
In Ireland, an 88 mph gust was reported at Mace Head, Galway while Northern Ireland’s strongest gust was 78 mph gust at Orlock Head.
Storm Éowyn January 2025
Forming from the remnants of an historic US Gulf Coast snowstorm, Storm Éowyn would become a memorable and record-breaking UK and Ireland storm.
Considered by the Met Office as Britain’s strongest in over a decade and Ireland’s worst since 1998, Storm Éowyn saw peak low pressure of 938mb having dropped an astonishing 52mb within 24 hours.
Tiree recorded a pressure of 941.9mb, lowest since storm naming began in 2015 and UK’s lowest since the storm of 24th December, 2013.
Magilligan, Co Londonderry reported a pressure of 948.1mb on it’s closest approach to Northern Ireland. This is a new January record low pressure for Northern Ireland and lowest since 1900.
The Rep of Ireland set two new national wind speed records. A new sustained wind speed (10 minutes) of 89 mph and gust of 114 mph were reported at Mace Head, Co Galway.
Satellite imagery suggests the 114 mph gust was generated beneath a ‘sting jet‘ which formed as the system passed just N of Ireland.
While a gust of 135 mph over Cairngorm was the strongest high level gust and 100 mph at Drumalbin, Lanarkshire (a record for the site) was the strongest low level, 15 stations with 10+years POR recorded their highest January gusts.
Some notable gusts included 102 mph on the Tay bridge, 99 mph Queensferry Crossing, 82 mph Glasgow Airport.
The ‘Weather & Radar UK’ team recorded a wind gust of 118 mph on the the coast of Co Clare, Ireland as seen below.
Unofficial wind gusts of up to 206 kph or 128 mph was recorded on on Aran Islands in Galway Bay, Ireland.
Storm Floris August 2025
Storm Floris will be remembered as one of the worst summer storms in recent memory. The 6th named storm of the season but first since Eowyn back in January, Floris while deep wasn’t the remnants of a former tropical entity like most deep late summer lows to affect the UK.
Born on the warm side of an unusually strong jet stream and crossed over to the cold side, Floris rapidly deepened and tightened as it crossed the Northern UK and Ireland. Minimum pressure fell to around 973mb at it’s peak.
A very impressive gust of 124 mph (higher than many autumn or winter gusts) was recorded over Cairngorm while Wick clocked a gust of 82 mph which equaled Scotland’s August record.
Other mountain gusts included 109 mph at Cairnwell and 106 mph at Aonach Mor, at lower levels 81 mph at Fair Isle, Shetland, 79 mph at Kinloss, Moray, 78 mph at Tain, 77 mph at Inverbervie.
List of new August wind records set from Storm Floris.
From Met Office
Named storms across the UK in the summer months are not particularly unusual, with examples
including storm Lilian in August 2024, storms Antoni and Betty in August 2023, storm Evert in July
2021, storms Ellen and Francis in August 2020 and storm Hector in June 2018. However, what
made Floris unusual was the strength of the strongest winds. More than 30 stations across the
network recorded gust speeds of 50Kt (58mph) or higher, with 13 reaching 60Kt (69mph) or
higher. While this would not be unusual in the winter months, this number of stations in the
summer months makes this one of the most severe summer wind storms to affect the UK in
observational records – although not unprecedented.
The charts below count the number of UK stations recording gusts >= 50Kt (58mph) and 60Kt
(69mph) during summer wind storms, based on wind observations from the 1970s until present.
The varying number of stations in the network makes direct comparisons difficult, but in terms of
severity storm Floris was overall comparable with storm Hector in June 2018, with overall gust
counts slightly lower than 25 July 1988.
Storm Amy October 2025
Early August saw record breaking Storm Floris sweep in and early October was no different with even a new national record broken along with all-time record wind gusts.
The cores of both Floris and Amy crossed an unusually powerful jet stream, both peaking as they crossed the UK.
The central pressure at the Amy’s peak bottomed out at 944mb while a land based site on Shetland recorded 947.9mb setting a new UK October record which stood since 1988.
The strongest gust from Storm Amy at a low level site was 96 mph on Tiree in the Inner Hebrides (tying the site’s October record).
At 92 mph, Northern Ireland (Magilligan, Londonderry) recorded it’s strongest October gust on record while it was the Rep of Ireland’s (Malin Head, Donegal) 2nd strongest.
Capel Curig, Conwy reported a gust of 85 mph.
The below graphic shows some significant and record breaker gusts from the storm.
NEW ALL-TIME RECORD WIND GUSTS: Magilligan, Londonderry 92 mph, Tain 87 mph, Loch Glascarnoch 84 mph.
Sites which set new October gust records (Met Office)
Inverness Airport 76 mph.
There was some impressive mountain site gusts including 136 mph over Cairngorm (UK’s strongest since S Jocelyn 2024), 113 Aonach Mor, 104 mph Bealach na Ba.
It’s said that Cairngorm observed a 12-hour period with each hour clocking a gust of 90kts+ (103 mph).
The UK’s wettest spot over a 4-day period during Storm Amy was Allt Dearg House, Skye with 240.6mm. Over half their October average.
Recent Comments