Thickmike

Thunders - be careful what you wish for. There are many side effects from hurricanes that are not worth the price of a bit of exciting weather. Given you're in year 9 and the storm is perhaps not going to hit Eastbourne as hard as it looked maybe you should think about calling it a night?

Thankyou to all the knowledgeable weather experts who have explained today's happenings. Thank you to all those who have reported what is happening to them. Thank you for all the invaluable links to various sources of information even if some of them at least still seem like pretty pictures and not a lot more - but I am learning. It's a shame that a few who seemed to feel the need to either rubbish the Met Office or other people posting tried to pretend it was just a bit of a breeze. It obviously wasn't 1987 over again - from all that i can learn that was a very special event. But it was a significant storm that disrupted peoples everyday lives, caused significant damage, and sadly cost a small number of irreplaceable lives. This site is excellent. We should do what we can to keep it that way. And actually I feel quite whacked after following this storm for most of the past 48 hours so time for down time. Thank you again.

Windy and heavy rain here between 14:50 and 15:10 as what appears from Netweather radar to be a squall line passed through - now calm and clearing and pressure has bottomed out by the look of it. Location SW Northants near Banbury OX17

I'm an old newbie at this but what would the effect be of the storm centre tracking slightly W of forecast - if that brings it slightly more overland would that diminish the effects? Thanks

Monsieur Chez - I had the same thought - presumably refocussing the high wind areas slightly inland and therefore perhaps less damaging? Is that what our colleagues on the ground are seeing?