The Great Storm Of 1987

[Polar Continental]

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

T.M

Hi all,

Thanks everyone for some very interesting posts.

The great storm of 87 missed us up here in the midlands, but TM’s amazing account of the gales up there in the Peaks of 1962 ect.has prompted me to the thread.

Living in the valley of Trent we very rarely experience anything like that, but I can remember a great gale around January 1976.

TM mentions 1st of January, but this chart looks more likely to me on January 3rd 1976, which would also explain why the winds were so unusually strong in our area. We are normally sheltered from the very worst gales, but as the winds on this storm came from the northwest, they were enhanced further it seems as they were funnelled through the so-called Cheshire gap.

I was still living with my parents back then, that night me and my late father were standing in the kitchen, my mother had already had enough and had hid under the stairs, looking back she was probably more sensible, but then again she missed the incredible opportunity to witness what was almost a once in a life time opportunity, to witness what was almost or close as you can get to hurricane in this area.

Listening to the wind that night, was like standing 5 feet away from express train doing 100 mph, it was probably nothing to what TM experienced up there in the peaks that night in 1962, but this was good enough for me lol, I was absolutely scared stiff, the lights were flickering which eventually cut off, at the same time the sky was lighting up over the fields as though a thunderstorm was raging, that later turned out to be overhead power lines which had collapsed thrashing about in the wind.

Something else that still stands out in my mind from this storm was the duration of the powerful winds, often in our area we get storms giving a few sudden gusts of strong winds which only last for a few seconds at most, but this storm was completely different, by the sound of the wind, the sustained speeds were very high, I estimate about 40 to 50mph went on for several minutes at a time and huge gusts of more than 80mph and the storm lasted for about 3 or 4 hours.

I didn’t have an anemometer ether in those days, but the day after the storm, the Headlines of the Burton Mail went something like this, ‘100 mile an hour winds devastate Burton’, indeed the Burton Market place was completely demolished, scores of +hundred year old trees were blown down, a huge oak a few gardens away from us was flattened, thankfully our house stayed intact, but we did loose most of the shed and half its contents, we did find bits of the roof strewed along with other debris down the street the next day.

Paul

[MAF]

i will never forget that night. five storeys up with windows feeling as if they were about to be blown out of their not so good wooden frames. the electric went off about 2'ish and the sight of 3 very tall trees toppling one after the other convinced me i would be better off out of the flat rather than in it. i decided to walk into work and see whether there was any damage there. it was a hard walk against the wind, and the most memorable sight was that of a bus shelter been blown up the incline of a hill. my local common (plumstead) was totally devastated with 90% of the trees down. all around were sad sights of trees destroyed and houses damaged.

[Crepuscular Ray]

In my rented flat in nw London we only lost power for about 10 hours and the wall at the bottom of the garden (which took Brent Council 6 months to replace, naturally), but my parents in East Sussex were without power for about 3 days (even though they had underground power cables) and lost loads of trees, especially evergreens. What was truly depressing was when my boss had to call someone we were working with at Kew, and he just cried down the phone for about quarter of an hour because they'd lost so much.

What I remember better, because it happened during daytime, was the late January 1990 (?) storm in the southeast. Oxford Street was an amazing sight, with hoardings and bits of shop signs sailing along about 30 feet in the air and just smacking through plate glass windows. Not a good day to go shoe-shopping!

[blitzen]

[]Living up here in Fife I didn't experience the 1987 storm but have managed to dig out this article which may interest people in the south. Sorry about the quality, I hope you can enlarge enough to read it!

Blitzen.[attach

ment=25426:attachment]

[blitzen]

It will probably be this one CR:

Edited November 4, 2006 by Blitzen

[BARRY]

i was on duty that day on the short ferry crossing from salcombe to east portlemouth hear in devon , it's only a querter of a mile, but it took me 1hour & 20 mins to do a crossing to pick up a injured man who was hit by a fallen tree , no ambulance could get there by road, the waves in the river wre about 12 feet high, and when your boat is only 21 foot long bike clips were the order of the day

[blitzen]

Toilet paper too I would imagine!

Blitzen.

[Crepuscular Ray]

It will probably be this one CR:

Yes, that's the one Blitzen. Thanks.

[Rustynailer]

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h...ntryGB%26sa%3DN

Just found these pics, cool, brings back memories as i was in Kent at the time