2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season

2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season
First storm formed 19 November 2016 (record latest)
Last storm dissipated 3 March 2017 (record earliest)
Strongest storm1 Storm Barbara - 949 hPa (28.0 inHg)
Strongest wind gust 118.6 mph (190.9 km/h) (Storm Doris)
Total storms 5 (record lowest)
Total damage Unconfirmed
Total fatalities 5 (record lowest)
1Strongest storm is determined by lowest pressure and maximum recorded non-mountainous wind gust is also included for reference.

The 2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season was the second instance of the United Kingdom's Met Office and Ireland's Met Éireann naming extratropical cyclones. Substantially less active than the previous season, the season succeeded the 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season and preceded the 2017–18 European windstorm season.

Background

In 2015, the Met Office and Met Éireann announced a pilot project to name storm warnings as part of the Name our Storms project for wind storms and asked the public for suggestions.[1] The meteorological offices produced a full list of names for 2015–16, common to both the UK and Ireland.[2] A new list of names was released on 19 September for the 2016–17 season.[3] Names in the UK will be based on the National Severe Weather Warning Service, when a storm is assessed to have the potential for an amber 'be prepared' or red 'take action' warning.[3]

  • Angus (19–22 November 2016)
  • Barbara (22–27 December 2016)
  • Conor (23–29 December 2016)
  • Doris (21–26 February 2017)
  • Ewan (25 February–3 March 2017)
  • Fleur (unused)
  • Gabriel (unused)
  • Holly (unused)
  • Ivor (unused)
  • Jacqui (unused)
  • Kamil (unused)
  • Louise (unused)
  • Malcolm (unused)
  • Natalie (unused)
  • Oisin (unused)
  • Penelope (unused)
  • Robert (unused)
  • Susan (unused)
  • Thomas (unused)
  • Valerie (unused)
  • Wilbert (unused)

Seasonal summary

Comparison of strongest gusts associated with each storm in the UK and Ireland.

[4][5][6][7][8]

Storms

Storm Angus

Angus
MODIS image of Angus on 21 November 2016
Date of impact 19–22 November
Maximum wind gust 106 mph (171 km/h)[9]
Lowest pressure 965 hPa (28.5 inHg)[10]
Fatalities 2
Power outages 1,000[9]
Damage Unconfirmed

Storm Angus was named on 19 November, with southern and southeast England, especially along the Channel coast expected to be the greatest affected areas as the storm moves northeast on 20 November.[11][3] The storm was known as "Nannette" in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.[12] Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, were hit with hurricane-force winds with the highest wind gusts since its 1990 record.[13]

The south-west of England was affected with over 1,000 power outages, mostly in Devon. Residents were evacuated due to flooding near South Molton, Devon. Further flooding was reported in Braunton, Bradiford, Devon, and East Bar, Swanage, Dorset. The high winds affected train service in the south-east, ferry crossing at the Port of Dover and the Brighton 10k run.[9]

The National Grid launched an investigation whether a ship's anchor damaged four of the eight cables of the Cross Channel high voltage interconnector during storm Angus, which would leave it only able to operate at half of its capacity until February 2017.[14]

A 39-year-old woman was found in the sea near Folkestone and was airlifted to hospital; she later died.[15] Russell Sherwood, aged 69, had been reported as missing on the day of the storm: a car was found upside-down in the River Ogmore with his body inside on 23 November.[16]

Storm Barbara

Barbara
Storm Barbara developing 23–24 December 2016
Date of impact 20–27 December
Maximum wind gust 83 mph (134 km/h)[17]
Lowest pressure 949 hPa (28.0 inHg)[18]
Fatalities 0
Power outages 1,000 in Northern Ireland[19]
Damage Unconfirmed

Storm Barbara was named on 20 December.[20][3] Approximately 1,000 homes were without power in Northern Ireland.[19] Part of a school roof was ripped off at Rhosgadfan near Caernarfon, Gwynedd, while hundreds of homes across Wales experienced power cuts.[21]

Storm Conor

Conor
MODIS image of Conor on 27 December 2016
Date of impact 23–29 December
Maximum wind gust 85 mph (137 km/h)
Lowest pressure 958 hPa (28.3 inHg)
Fatalities 0
Power outages 1,000 In the Shetland Islands
Damage Unconfirmed

Storm Conor was named three days after Barbara on 23 December[3] with mostly amber warnings for the Northern Isles and north Caithness on Boxing Day. Hundreds of homes across Scotland and The Shetland Islands experienced power cuts.[22]

Storm Doris

Doris
MODIS image of Doris on 23 February 2017
Date of impact 21–26 February
Maximum wind gust 118.6 mph (190.9 km/h)
Lowest pressure 954 hPa (28.2 inHg)
Fatalities 3
Power outages Almost 50,000
Damage +€200 million[23]
Damage from Storm Doris in New Barnet, London.

Storm Doris was named on 21 February and impacted Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands on 23 February 2017.[24][25][26] A gust of 94 mph was recorded at Capel Curig, Wales.[27] On its approach the storm strengthened considerably going through a process called bombogenesis,[28] wherein the central pressure of the system fell at a very fast pace; 24 hPa of pressure in 24 hours to 974 millibars.[29][30]

A 32-year-old woman was killed in Swindon when blown with an empty pram into the road.[31] Another woman, a 29-year-old, died in Wolverhampton when debris fell on her in the street.[32][33] A man in his 80s died in hospital on 26 February after the car he was travelling in was crushed by a falling tree.[34] The Shropshire and Wolverhampton incidents were chronicled in the final episode of the second series of Ambulance, a BBC One documentary programme, the following October.[35][36]

A girl was seriously injured when a ceiling collapsed on her at the Southwood School in Milton Keynes.[37] On 23 February 2017, during high winds caused by Storm Doris, a Flybe plane (Flight 1284) from Edinburgh to Amsterdam crash landed on the runway at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: the rear right landing gear collapsed but there were no injuries.[38]

There was also snow and rain. Road, rail and air travel was disrupted and there were failures in power supply. The storm was described as a weather bomb.[39][40]

Storm Ewan

Ewan
MODIS image of Ewan on 28 February 2017
Date of impact 25 February–3 March
Maximum wind gust 70 mph (110 km/h)
Fatalities 0
Power outages Limited
Damage Unconfirmed

Storm Ewan was named by Met Éireann four days after Doris on 25 February and impacted Ireland on 26 February 2017.[41] Ewan failed to form a low pressure system and damage was limited in Ireland to strong winds on the south coast.[42]

Season effects

This table lists all known windstorms that affected the UK and Ireland during 2016–2017. It includes their name, duration, peak recorded gust (excluding mountain stations), lowest pressure, areas affected, deaths and damage totals from the two nations. All damage figures are in 2016 pounds sterling and euros. The 2016/17 storm season was described as relatively quiet by the reinsurance broker Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting division in late February.[43]

StormDates activeHighest wind gustLowest pressureCasualtiesDamages
Angus19 – 22 November106 mph (171 km/h)965 hPa (28.50 inHg)2Unknown
Barbara20 – 27 December83 mph (134 km/h)949 hPa (28.02 inHg)NoneUnknown
Conor23 – 29 December85 mph (137 km/h)958 hPa (28.29 inHg)NoneUnknown
Doris21 – 26 February118.6 mph (190.9 km/h)954 hPa (28.47 inHg)3[44]Over €200 million[23]
Ewan25 February – 3 March70 mph (110 km/h)UnknownNoneUnknown
Season Aggregates
5 windstorms19 November – 3 March118.6 mph (190.9 km/h)949 hPa (28.02 inHg)5Over €200 million

Storms named by other European meteorological services

IR satellite image of storm Egon 13 January 2017

During the 2016/17 winter 3 storms exceeded the Perils.org insured loss reporting threshold of €200 million, Egon, Thomas/Doris,[45] and Zeus.

(† Zeus was not named by a national meteorological agency but was widely used in French media, believed to be a misappellation of another low named by the Free University of Berlin charts.)

See also

References

  1. "Met Éireann Weather Warning System Explained". Met Éireann. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  2. "Nigel and Steve among new storm names". BBC News. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "UK Storm Centre". Met Office. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  4. "Storm Angus". Met Office.
  5. "Storm Barbara". Met Office.
  6. "Storm Conor". Met Office.
  7. "Storm Doris". Met Office.
  8. "Storm Ewan". Met Office.
  9. 1 2 3 "Cargo ship hits barge in Storm Angus". BBC News. 20 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  10. Bertelman, Magdalena (20 November 2016). "Thema des Tages – Archiv – NANNETTE fegt über Teile Deutschlands hinweg". www.dwd.de (in German). DWD. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  11. "Angus the first named storm of autumn 2016". Official blog of the Met Office news team. Met Office. 19 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  12. Brandt, Anders (20 November 2016). "Her ramte stormen 'Angus' med vindstød af orkanstyrke". vejr.tv2.dk (in Danish). TV2. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  13. "Channel Islands battered by hurricane force winds overnight". ITV News. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  14. Ward, Andrew (29 November 2016). "UK grid loses half the power from link to France". www.ft.com. Financial Times. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  15. "UK weather: Woman dies after being winched from the sea as Storm Angus batters Britain". The Daily Telegraph. 22 November 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  16. "Storm Angus: Body found in search for pensioner after flood". Sky News. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  17. "Storm Barbara – latest forecast & updates". 26 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  18. "Met Office Surface Analysis Chart". www.metoffice.com. MO. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  19. 1 2 "Power has been restored to customers hit by Storm Barbara". BBC News. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  20. "Amber Storm Barbara warning for Scotland". BBC News. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  21. "Storm Barbara brings travel disruption to Wales". BBC News. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  22. "Disruption as Storm Barbara starts moving across Scotland". BBC News. 23 December 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  23. 1 2 "Global Catastrophe Recap" (PDF). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  24. "Storm Doris – Met Office Barometer". www.metoffice.gov.uk. Met Office. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  25. "Storm Doris 'weather bomb' brings snow, gales and travel disruption – live updates". Guardian. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  26. "Storm Doris: Almost 50,000 without power, air and rail passengers stranded as extreme wind and rain batter Ireland". Irish Independent. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  27. "Storm Doris winds reach 94mph in Wales". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  28. "February's Storm Doris weather bombs Great Britain | NOAA Climate.gov". www.climate.gov. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  29. "European windstorm Thomas/Doris could be costliest of season | Artemis.bm". Artemis.bm – The Catastrophe Bond, Insurance Linked Securities & Investment, Reinsurance Capital, Alternative Risk Transfer and Weather Risk Management Blog. 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  30. Di Liberto, Tom (1 March 2017). "February's Storm Doris weather bombs Great Britain". NOAA Climate.gov. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  31. Bond, Anthony (24 February 2017). "Young mum killed 'after Storm Doris winds blow her into road' and she is hit by road-sweeper". Mirror.
  32. "Storm Doris: Woman killed as UK hit by winds reaching 94mph". BBC News. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  33. Booth, Robert (23 February 2017). "Woman killed by falling debris as Storm Doris causes chaos across UK". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  34. "Man dies after tree fell on car during Storm Doris". BBC News. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  35. "Episode 8". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  36. Laws, Roz (11 October 2017). "BBC to screen moment paramedics arrived at the scene of Storm Doris death in Wolverhampton". Birmingham Mail. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  37. "Girl seriously injured in sports hall ceiling collapse". BBC News. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  38. Calder, Simon; Pasha-Robinson, Lucy (23 February 2017). "Flybe plane crash lands on runway at Amsterdam Schipol airport". The Independent. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  39. Storm Doris: Woman killed as UK hit by winds reaching 94mph BBC
  40. Storm Doris 'weather bomb': 94mph winds, travel chaos and snow – live updates The Guardian
  41. "Storm Ewan to impact Ireland". Met Office. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  42. "Storm Ewan proves weaker than forecast as warnings withdrawn". Irish Times. 27 February 2017.
  43. "European windstorm Thomas/Doris could be costliest of season". Artemis.bm – The Catastrophe Bond, Insurance Linked Securities & Investment, Reinsurance Capital, Alternative Risk Transfer and Weather Risk Management Blog. 24 February 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  44. "Storm Doris: Woman killed as UK hit by winds reaching 94mph". 23 February 2017 via www.bbc.co.uk.
  45. "Cyclone Thomas / Doris insured loss seen at EUR213m by PERILS | Artemis.bm". Artemis.bm – The Catastrophe Bond, Insurance Linked Securities & Investment, Reinsurance Capital, Alternative Risk Transfer and Weather Risk Management Blog. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  46. "Electricity companies race to restore power to 75,000 homes". Yle. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  47. Rommetveit, Astrid (25 December 2016). "Ekstremværet Urd treffer Sør-Norge mandag" (in Norwegian). yr.no. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
  48. "Satellitenfilm Orkantief Axel Januar 2017". DWD via Youtube. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  49. "– Vannstanden blir enda høyere enn vi trodde". NRK. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  50. "Storm Egon leaves two dead, thousands without power". The local. 13 January 2017.
  51. "Coupures d'électricité, rafales de vent : la tempête Leiv souffle sur le Sud-Ouest" (in French). Le Monde. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  52. "Stromausfälle, verwehte Autos, eine Tote: Wetterbombe sorgt für Chaos in Europa" (in German). FOCUS Online. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  53. "Tempête Zeus: "Un hiver sans tempête, ça n'arrive jamais", explique un météorologue" (in French). 20minutes.fr. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  54. "Analysis 6 March 2017". Adopt-A-Vortex. Free University Berlin. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  55. "Losses Perils". Perils. Perils.org. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
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