The Great Storm Of 1987

[Paranoid]

I remember that storm. Whilst we only got around 50-60mph my friend said it sounded like the wind was screaming. The Pressure in that storm was around 943mbar.

CDW:True, but you don't usually get 70mph+ gusts in the centre of the country.

Btw, on the subject of the blizzard in 93 that reached 916mbar. I think that measurement may be suspect, as i thought the lowest recorded pressure was on 08/12/1886 at 927mbar. Thjere was a storm that passed over Belfast with 90mph winds.

I did find the two charts but couldn't get a direct link to them

On a different subject, i'm trying to estimate the pressure of Hurricane Dog in 1950, which reached windspeeds of around 185-190mph. Firstly i need to know the size of the storm and the ambient pressure around it to get a good gauge of what the pressure may have been.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Dog_%281950%29

Edited September 22, 2006 by Paranoid

[Mondy]

It's cropped up before on here a few times about the lowest UK pressure. I'm not very good at stats etc - Mr Data is probably the one to ask!

Just borrowed Gorky's avatar image of one of the deepest depressions i've ever seen. I'm certain it was the tragic Jan 2005 storm. I might be wrong though..Clearly remember being amazed at the sheer shape of it.

The more i type away, i'm sure it was Jan 2005 - anyone got a chart for that?

:blink: :lol:

Actually, excuse my ignorance. How do you get archived wetterzentrale charts? Once into the site where do i click?

Edit: Think i've found the archives....silly telephone boxer, Mondy

[Mondy]

Arghh! you mean to say i had to learn German for a minute there?!!

Cheers, CMD - i've probably seen the archives feature loads of times - just never thought of seeing what it was/what it did..."Mondy is a thicko, Mondy is a thicko" :blink: :lol:

Edited September 22, 2006 by Mondy the clumsy

[frozen_north]

I remember the Boxing day storm vividlay. I was coming home from dundee back to glasgow at about 9pm and it was crazy outside. At points the rain was so heavy you couldnt see out of the windscreen.

[coldfingers]

The thing that sticks in my mind about that storm was leaving my father-in-law's house at 10:00pm and finding it was many degrees warmer than when we went in. Not what you expect in October.

I slept through the best of the storm but woke in the middle of it to find the power out and the wind howling and rattling the old sash windows, The wind was so severe we brought our 15 month daughter into our bedroom as we were worried the chimney stack would collapse through the roof.

The most enduring memory though was the picture of a partially collapsed building in Brighton and the report about one poor man who felt it collapsing and dashed for the door as the floor fell away below him. He was left hanging onto the door threshold until he was rescued. Poor feller was also stark naked! :blink:

So many trees were toppled on the Goodwood estate that from the air it resembled Tunguska

Nearly forgot to say that so many trees were down that Bognor was completely cut off by road, and there were more than leaves on the railway lines :lol: :lol: :lol:

Edited September 22, 2006 by coldfingers

[Mondy]

I think the biggest factor of the '87 storm was the fact that it affected such a densely populated area. By all accounts the Burns' Day Storm of 1990 was as powerful, but it affected less populated areas. Also, the Boxing Day Storm of '98 may not have been as powerful a system as the '87 storm, but it still managed gusts of 100mph+. Another great example of a storm system was the early to mid Jan 1993 blizzard which affected Scotland, I believe this system bombed to 916mb, a record for the North Atlantic.

Since found out it was infact 913mb <_<

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast

And most spectacularly, on 10 January 1993, when a record North Atlantic low pressure of 913 mB was recorded:

Rockall , Malin, Hebrides, Bailey. Southwest hurricane force 12 or more.

[Coopsy]

It was the wheelie bins bouncing over my car, and perhaps the caravan, upside down in the middle of the road spinning, or the upturned trees that did it for me!

I was in Glasgow for Boxing Day 98 and remember the patio doors just bowing with the wind, I thought they were going to implode. However, most houses got away with little more than a few tiles gone and fences down

I also remember Christmas day the year before, after a whole day of raining, it turned to snow in the evening. Very nice end to the festive day.. Infact I had a white Christmas up there in 2004 as well. Not a bad record

But IMO nothing compares to the storm of '87 when I lived in Kent. Just waking up the next day and seeing the complete devastation of so many trees down, the landscape where I lived never looked the same again.

[Bilz]

Anyone remember the storms of 3rd - 5th January 1998? It was a ferociously stormy period which probably saw some of the highest wind gusts ever recorded over southern England and Wales. Despite this and the fact there was a programme devoted to it a number of years back, I never see it get much of a mention in storm discussions.

Here are the synopic charts for that period:

The strongest winds occurred when an intense secondary depression crossed England rapidly during the morning of the 4th Jan (you can see it brewing to the west of France on the second chart). It produced storm force winds of between 55 and 70mph, with a peak gust of 115mph recorded at Swansea.

We had an enormous gust of wind in Oxford during the morning, which was probably responsible for most of the fallen trees across our region. It went eireely quiet in the afternoon, probably as the low pressure centre passed over us, before the violent gusts picked up again in the evening. Top wind speeds in our region were around 70mph.

The storm made the front pages of all the newspapers, and I would upload the map from the Telegraph depicting wind speeds around the UK if my scanner was working...

Edited September 24, 2006 by Bilz

[Rustynailer]

I remember having a few large old trees to clear up and loads of branches, the worst missed us though. The reason i remember is that it was so soon after Christmas, sort of New Year with a bang

discuss about the great storm of 1987,your experiences and also synoptically what happened.

It was the worst storm to hit the U.k for two hundred years,with a central pressure of 953(I think!)

with gusts of over 95Mph,it certainly was a intense storm that struck unexpectedly,and I think sir Micheal fish will laways be remembered for that night.

St catherines Lighthouse on the Isle of Wight got 120mph, the UK's highest wind speed, so i have always been told by the people down here, i moved here in 1990. I was in Kent when the 87 came, it was so cool well warm actually <_<

[Weather-history]

Christmas Eve gale of 1997 now that was a hair raiser. I thought we were going to lose power in the evening, the windows were going to blow in and the sound of the wind down the chimney flue, unforgetable.

The mess. the next day on Christmas morning. Debris everywhere, branches down etc. What a mess!

It was the 30th anniversary of the great gale of 1976, earlier this year

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=26158

Edited September 24, 2006 by Mr_Data

[Coopsy]

The highest gust recorded at a low-level site: 123 knots (142 mph) at Fraserburgh (Aberdeenshire) on 13 February 1989.

The highest gust recorded at a high-level site: 150 knots (173 mph) at Cairngorm Automatic Weather Station (on the border of Highland and Moray at an altitude of 1245 m AMSL) on 20 March 1986

Courtesy of the met office

[Paranoid]

Allegedly on Dec 31 1992- Jan 1-1993, an oil rig recorded Sustained windspeeds of 125mph, and a gust of 193mph. Natrually that measurement is suspect.

[Dawlish]

Last January, North Rona recorded a gust of 126 knots, 145 mph and had sustained winds of over 100mph for 9 continuous hours.

I hope the shags had a decent grip <_<

Paul

[Snowyowl9]

I'm guessing I slept through it but then I was only 2 at the time :lol:

- Just a bit windy looking at this.

That`s a great little chart there of how that storm happened.

Looks like we had east then N/N.W winds.

[Mondy]

It is a very good chart.

I notice it's done by http://www.meto.gov.uk/education/.... shame they don't do more similar charts for other well known storms, or do they? Would be interested to know.

[A Gower Guy]

Anyone remember the storms of 3rd - 5th January 1998? It was a ferociously stormy period which probably saw some of the highest wind gusts ever recorded over southern England and Wales. Despite this and the fact there was a programme devoted to it a number of years back, I never see it get much of a mention in storm discussions.

Here are the synopic charts for that period:

The strongest winds occurred when an intense secondary depression crossed England rapidly during the morning of the 4th Jan (you can see it brewing to the west of France on the second chart). It produced storm force winds of between 55 and 70mph, with a peak gust of 115mph recorded at Swansea.

We had an enormous gust of wind in Oxford during the morning, which was probably responsible for most of the fallen trees across our region. It went eireely quiet in the afternoon, probably as the low pressure centre passed over us, before the violent gusts picked up again in the evening. Top wind speeds in our region were around 70mph.

The storm made the front pages of all the newspapers, and I would upload the map from the Telegraph depicting wind speeds around the UK if my scanner was working...

I remember that storm, on the Sat 3rd listening to the shipping forecast and hearing force 11 and 12 warnings. Later that evening we were at a friends and an unexpected thunderstorm passed over with hail leaving a nice white scenery, that night my brother slept in my room as his bedroom was close to the next door neighbours large conifer trees that swayed like mad in gales and with severe gales or more forecast we were not going to take the risk of the trees falling onto his room.

The 4th was very windy, with hail showers, and local radio was reporting that some advertising boards had come down in Swansea, the trees next door stayed up but by hell did they move in the storm force gusts.

I also remember the storm on 28 October '96 which I recall wasn't that gusty but with some very strong sustained winds.

[VillagePlank]

On top of Bluebell Hill it was an extremely frightening experience for a 13 year old kid (me!) We have trees at the back of our house that are taller than the length of my garden - some large branches came down, but fortunately a tree did not come down on my house. A tree across the road from my house fell within feet of another house. The whole area, in terms of woodland, was decimated.

What I do remember was the feeling of community, and of human spirit that followed the days and weeks after the storm; I do wonder if I'll ever see such sights as human beings looking after each other simply because they need help ever again; the world just seems different, somehow, now.

[tesaro]

For those that were too young to remember the oct 87 storm here is some footage of the morning after.

It was filmed in my home village in west suffolk. The tail end of the storm was still clearing through. As you can see its still a tad breezy.

Edited October 3, 2006 by tesaro

[*Stormforce~beka*]

So which one was the one that gave us hail and thunder in January hmmm 2 or 3 years back?? Remember that one was as that was when I was still at IBM. We were taking boxes home to pack ready for moving house and I nearly got blew away. By the time we got to the car 5 mins walk we had a good inch of now on the top of these boxes. Took us over half hour to do a 5 minute journey it was so slippery and there was so much snow. Anyone got any charts etc for that? Guessing it was around January/February 2004 but maybe wrong!

[Snowly does it]

So which one was the one that gave us hail and thunder in January hmmm 2 or 3 years back?? Remember that one was as that was when I was still at IBM. We were taking boxes home to pack ready for moving house and I nearly got blew away. By the time we got to the car 5 mins walk we had a good inch of now on the top of these boxes. Took us over half hour to do a 5 minute journey it was so slippery and there was so much snow. Anyone got any charts etc for that? Guessing it was around January/February 2004 but maybe wrong!

It was Jan 2004, its probably on here somewhere, if not post a new topic and someone will come up with the goods I am sure.

Round about the 20 somethingth iirc.

[Terminal Moraine]

The gales of Jan' 1st 1976 and 25th Jan' 1990 were both quite severe in this area, Jan' 1976 more so than 1990. There were certainly more trees down on the lower ground in 1976 than in 1990. I recorded a max' gust of 91 mph in Jan' 1990 but this was with a hand held anemometer over a period when I thought the gale was close to its worst, there may have been a few gusts even stronger than this but without a continuous record it's impossible to tell. There was very little damage in the village from this gale, a few slates and tiles removed and some damage to weaker buildings such as the village hall which has a corrugated steel roof.

Worst gale in my lifetime is definitely that of Feb' 15th 1962, houses at the top of the village had whole or part or their roofs torn off.

I was living about 10 miles away from my current residence at the time at a much lower altitude but I'd estimate gusts of at least 85 mph even there. Thousands of trees were blow down, power cuts were widespread and lasted for several days. My neighbour had to enlist the help of his brothers at the height of the gale to throw ropes over his roof and tie them to large stakes hammered into the ground and tractor blocks as the roof was lifting up on the western apex and was about to be torn off.

He had a hay shed in the field next to our house built out of large timbers and roofed with corrugated iron sheets held with 4 inch galvanised nails. A huge gust ripped off 4 of the sheets and sent them flying across our garden. One hit the house wall and chopped out half a brick, another wedged in a gap in a hedge which bisected the garden, just as my mother was about to walk through it- she had been out to nail down the garage roof as it was lifting off- a few seconds earlier and I would have had a bisected mother.

Another neighbour was coming home from a night shift on his motorbike, as he rode up his drive he and the bike were blown over a 3 foot wall into the adjacent garden, fortunately he wasn't badly hurt.

I remember my dad giving us a lift to school about 2 miles away, normally we walked but understandably it was deemed too dangerous. We didn't go the usual way as it meant driving under a lot of trees but as we made our way through the neghbouring village which was situated on a ridge I saw shoals of tiles flying off house roofs like flocks of Jackdaws. The road was littered with tiles, branches and rubbish but I didn't really appreciate at the time just how dangerous it was to be out in it; these days all the schools would be closed but then everyone just got on with it.

At school break time no one was allowed out to the toilet block at the top of the school yard without the one to one supervision of a teacher. The school was on an exposed ridge and the gap between the school building and the toilet block faced west. One boy said he didn't need a teacher to hold his hand and rushed from the school door onto the playground, as he got part way across the gap he suddenly lifted into the air and was blown about 6 yards to be pinned against a chain link fence, his feet about a yard above the ground; he was eventually rescued by a teacher and received a couple of clouts around the head for disobeying instructions.

The roaring of the wind in the trees was unforgettable, I just wish I'd had an anemometer to record the gusts.

T.M

[senior ridge]

Re 1987

My parents come back home from an evening out around 11.30pm and said it was very windy

Woken up by the noise around 3am, saw large tree almost bent downwards in the SSW severe gales. Still quite vivid.

Woke up to a garden in a mess with many side fences blown down.

The Jan 1990 day time severe gales were also memorable especially the warnings in London of falling scaffolding, masonry and trees.

[johnholmes]

The gales of Jan' 1st 1976 and 25th Jan' 1990 were both quite severe in this area, Jan' 1976 more so than 1990. There were certainly more trees down on the lower ground in 1976 than in 1990. I recorded a max' gust of 91 mph in Jan' 1990 but this was with a hand held anemometer over a period when I thought the gale was close to its worst, there may have been a few gusts even stronger than this but without a continuous record it's impossible to tell. There was very little damage in the village from this gale, a few slates and tiles removed and some damage to weaker buildings such as the village hall which has a corrugated steel roof.

Worst gale in my lifetime is definitely that of Feb' 15th 1962, houses at the top of the village had whole or part or their roofs torn off.

I was living about 10 miles away from my current residence at the time at a much lower altitude but I'd estimate gusts of at least 85 mph even there. Thousands of trees were blow down, power cuts were widespread and lasted for several days. My neighbour had to enlist the help of his brothers at the height of the gale to throw ropes over his roof and tie them to large stakes hammered into the ground and tractor blocks as the roof was lifting up on the western apex and was about to be torn off.

He had a hay shed in the field next to our house built out of large timbers and roofed with corrugated iron sheets held with 4 inch galvanised nails. A huge gust ripped off 4 of the sheets and sent them flying across our garden. One hit the house wall and chopped out half a brick, another wedged in a gap in a hedge which bisected the garden, just as my mother was about to walk through it- she had been out to nail down the garage roof as it was lifting off- a few seconds earlier and I would have had a bisected mother.

Another neighbour was coming home from a night shift on his motorbike, as he rode up his drive he and the bike were blown over a 3 foot wall into the adjacent garden, fortunately he wasn't badly hurt.

I remember my dad giving us a lift to school about 2 miles away, normally we walked but understandably it was deemed too dangerous. We didn't go the usual way as it meant driving under a lot of trees but as we made our way through the neghbouring village which was situated on a ridge I saw shoals of tiles flying off house roofs like flocks of Jackdaws. The road was littered with tiles, branches and rubbish but I didn't really appreciate at the time just how dangerous it was to be out in it; these days all the schools would be closed but then everyone just got on with it.

At school break time no one was allowed out to the toilet block at the top of the school yard without the one to one supervision of a teacher. The school was on an exposed ridge and the gap between the school building and the toilet block faced west. One boy said he didn't need a teacher to hold his hand and rushed from the school door onto the playground, as he got part way across the gap he suddenly lifted into the air and was blown about 6 yards to be pinned against a chain link fence, his feet about a yard above the ground; he was eventually rescued by a teacher and received a couple of clouts around the head for disobeying instructions.

The roaring of the wind in the trees was unforgettable, I just wish I'd had an anemometer to record the gusts.

T.M

wonderful if frightening account of that 1962 storm.

I remember coming home from Langar, south of Nottingham, overnight we had gusts of 30-40mph only. As the bus got nearer Mansfield there were a few signs of damage, then nearer Chesterfield lots more, trees down, chimney pots in the road etc. Sheffield was very much worse according to the newspapers with many roofs and chimney pots damaged or down.

John

[Snowyowl9]

The gales of Jan' 1st 1976 and 25th Jan' 1990 were both quite severe in this area, Jan' 1976 more so than 1990. There were certainly more trees down on the lower ground in 1976 than in 1990. I recorded a max' gust of 91 mph in Jan' 1990 but this was with a hand held anemometer over a period when I thought the gale was close to its worst, there may have been a few gusts even stronger than this but without a continuous record it's impossible to tell. There was very little damage in the village from this gale, a few slates and tiles removed and some damage to weaker buildings such as the village hall which has a corrugated steel roof.

Worst gale in my lifetime is definitely that of Feb' 15th 1962.

T.M

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=26158

1st Jan 1976 was the worst storm ever here since I`ve been about anyway.. followed by the burns day storm in 1990.

[Rustynailer]

I was at my grans in Wythenshawe, Manchester for the 76, father took us for a drive to see the destruction, which i remember was particularly bad by Manchester air port tunnel road, large dead elms blown all over the place.

i was in Reculver, Kent, for the 87, that was the best storm i have been in up to now.

For the 1990 storm i crossed the Solent for the first time on the 24rd Jan, the next few days were memorable, watching the sea rough as you like, trees all over the place, caravans likewise.

Nowt has touched any of them since

Russ