Bay Of Biscay

[Interitus]

SW fohn wind is creating very mild temperatures in the Bilbao area - 0z temperature 18 degC compared with average January night minimum of 5C

[cj114]

Still up, and trying to track this storm Nick.

I hate storms, and am very grateful ours came to nought last night.

Your basement. Would it be hard to evacuate your family down there? and from what you said, it has windows. [board them up]

I have a House in Girona, so spent many happy hours with different routes down there, including where you are, and Clemont Ferrant, etc.

Car journeys are bad enough, but at least I got to see plenty of the "real" France whilst doing so. My House is amongst the Gavarres mountains. Just past the Pyrenees. But east of you. Skiing in Winter, Sunbathing in Summer. Perfect.

Seriously, Do take care, pretend it is '87, and make the preps we didn't then!!

Hope to hear from you tomorrow. Looks bad at the moment though.

Good luck.

CJ. [am a girl an old one, just like the Dark Tower books. lol]

[Roger J Smith]

Had a supper break here ... 02z that ship reported in again, 99 knots at 44N 7W. It fits the extreme gradient on the isobar map on meteociel. This and the satellite image combine to show a centre close to the mouth of the Loire River now, meteociel often leaves out isobars near centres of deep lows, I've found, so I would estimate pressure closer to 955 mbs than their 968 mbs. But in any case, 105 km/hr gusts reported now at Biarritz and generally near 100 km/hr up the coast to north of the Gironde, the first front with some thunderstorms has moved well inland now, the second front is at the coast and moving inland, showing signs of going convective also.

A nasty situation for sure, especially for this ship because the wind is coming around more to WNW and that would drive it towards the Spanish coast. It is either trying to go east or being pushed that way when I compare the five-hourly reports, and I suspect it may not be under power because it has not gone very far in five hours.

I don't think Nick Sussex is in the worst part of this storm, places closer to Bordeaux and along the coast south will take a hammering, but inland the strongest winds should fan out and pass mostly further north than where he is.

[Roger J Smith]

100 mph (160 km/hr) gusts reported now near Bordeaux ... radar shows squall line development between Bordeaux and Nick's location near Pau. Satellite image shows sweep of hurricane force west winds likely to last 4 to 6 hours at least ... this will be very severe for a large area, let's hope Nick is not in harm's way. Many people in that region are, and it's 0500 local time, seems like an Oct 1987 type of storm is unfolding.

[Roger J Smith]

Continued reports of very strong gusts along the coast, 171 km/hr at Biscarosse and Cap Ferret not too far from Bordeaux, and remarks on the meteociel site (if my translation is accurate) that it is a tremendous storm like 99, too loud to sleep, trees bending over to near the ground, and so on. The reports from Pau on this site are less violent, gusts to 100 km/hr and showers, bad enough but hopefully not too damaging right there. Would have to imagine there will be much news about this storm in the morning.

[Phil UK]

Blimey!!

That image would look better suited to the Gulf of Mexico rather than the Bay of Biscay. Wonder what the central pressure is? Haven't seen anything like that over that area for a long time, even if at all.

Phil.

[cj114]

Bl*dy awful really. Look at that hook!

Scary or what?

[Mondy]

http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/IPPS/html/MSG/R...y/J3jnzdrnKkcx4

[nick sussex]

By some miracle after a power cut we're back on for a while but the conditions are appalling. Up the coast towards Bordeaux at a place called Cap Ferret recorded a gust of 168km/h, Pau which is 15 kms to my nw recently recorded 130km/h! Another surprising thing was a fohn effect ahead of the storm which saw some unbelievable temp rises, here it was 6c in Pau it was 16c! within about 10 minutes the temp also shot up here, its now fallen but thats the first time I've seen such a quick temp rise. I can now hear the smashing of plant pots on the terrace, if anything the winds seem to be strengthening, my two dogs are desperate to go out for a pee but its so bad now that I'm fearful they'll get blown away!

Edited January 24, 2009 by nick sussex

[PB22]

By some miracle after a power cut we're back on for a while but the conditions are appalling. Up the coast towards Bordeaux at a place called Cap Ferret recorded a gust of 168km/h, Pau which is 15 kms to my nw recently recorded 130km/h! Another surprising thing was a fohn effect ahead of the storm which saw some unbelievable temp rises, here it was 6c in Pau it was 16c! within about 10 minutes the temp also shot up here, its now fallen but thats the first time I've seen such a quick temp rise. I can now hear the smashing of plant pots on the terrace, if anything the winds seem to be strengthening, my two dogs are desperate to go out for a pee but its so bad now that I'm fearful they'll get blown away!

Hope you and everyone else down there get through the storm safely without too much damage. This storm is something I talked about earlier last week when I was fearful it would hit the UK.

[Nick F]

Hope it eases down soon Nick, so you can get some sleep. Wise not to let your dogs or yourself outside.

Disappointed that there's nothing on any of the UK News websites about this once in a decade storm, obviously front page on the French newspaper websites. I see there were 170km/h gusts recorded in the Arcachon area which is around 105 mph, I imagine many of the shallow-rooted pine trees in sandy soils that are endemic in that area will not have withstood those kinds of gusts.

06z fax and satellite shows what a beast this low was, 966mb centred near La Rochelle:

Quite a few lightning strikes along the north Spanish coast this morning, rather unstable Pm air in the wake of this low:

[Andy Bown]

100+mm of rain on the extreme NW coast of France in the last 24 hours!

[Guest North Sea Snow Convection]

Glad to see nick has reported in earlier this morning at least

A humdinger of a storm - it does sound a bit like the Oct 87 event with the rapid temp fluctuations as well as the powerful winds. However this looks stronger than that!

Hopefully we will hear from nick again in due course. I guess there may well be another power outtage. I bet his dogs are also really frantic. Trying to imagine what my cats would be like lol!

[January Snowstorm]

Munster match in Montauban is off cause of the storm

[Greyowl]

BBC website has a small article on the storm with a short video. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7848719.stm

Hope you stay safe Nick.

[J10]

The storm was prominently featured on the main BBC news at 12.

[cj114]

Glad Nick has reported in. Just worried about my House in Northern Spain. It's in the Gavarres Mountains, just north of Barcelona. The wind whips through there at the best of times.

Better call my Management company I think.

[Greyowl]

BBC website has been updated. 5 Fatalities reported so far in Spain. Very sad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7848719.stm

[Guest North Sea Snow Convection]

Glad Nick has reported in. Just worried about my House in Northern Spain. It's in the Gavarres Mountains, just north of Barcelona. The wind whips through there at the best of times.

Better call my Management company I think.

Hope all is well there!

I would imagine that Nick lost power again, as the worst of the storm was coming over, and is waiting for it to be restored.

[Yeti]

I must say I'm amazed at the poor infrastructure totally unsuited to this storm!

Come on, 170kmh is hardly a huge beast - Britain recorded that last week and in Scotland it's overcome many, many times a year - with far less structural damage!

Yes it's a big storm but the problem seems more to lie in all those flappy houses they build down there!

[disco-barry]

Oh aren't they terrible Yeti, Not as flattened as the gazans homes though!

Edited January 24, 2009 by disco-barry

[A.J]

I must say I'm amazed at the poor infrastructure totally unsuited to this storm!

Come on, 170kmh is hardly a huge beast - Britain recorded that last week and in Scotland it's overcome many, many times a year - with far less structural damage!

Yes it's a big storm but the problem seems more to lie in all those flappy houses they build down there!

Seems a rather callous post Yeti!.....This is a huge storm, which has left a million people without power and has claimed the lives of 12 people for goodness sake!.......Storms of this magnitude and power are rare in our temperate climate.....If this storm for example had cut a swathe over say, populated areas of the British Isles, then no doubt millions upon millions of pounds worth of damage would occur, with casualties, loss of life, with the lives of many being affected...Forum members who remember the 1987 storm will attest to that!

Edited January 24, 2009 by ajpoolshark

[Yeti]

Seems a rather callous post Yeti!.....This is a huge storm, which has left a million people without power and has claimed the lives of 12 people for goodness sake!.......Storms of this magnitude and power are rare in our temperate climate.....If this storm for example had cut a swathe over say, populated areas of the British Isles, then no doubt millions upon millions of pounds worth of damage would occur, with casualties, loss of life, with the lives of many being affected...Forum members who remember the 1987 storm will attest to that!

My point is that these storms do happen in Britain and quite regularly. 170km per hour was recorded in Ireland only last week and I don't remember it being on international news after buildings fell down all over the place. Windstorms are far, far more common in Britain than in Spain, owing to the jet being where it normally is - and as such, we are much more prepared. It's a tragedy that so many people have died, but clearly the infrastructure is not designed to cope with these storms. When this happens in the UK it's not so bad (and the 1987 storm was a lot worse in intensity!).

Remember that Shetland recorded 285km/hr winds in 1962!

[A.J]

My point is that these storms do happen in Britain and quite regularly. 170km per hour was recorded in Ireland only last week and I don't remember it being on international news after buildings fell down all over the place. Windstorms are far, far more common in Britain than in Spain, owing to the jet being where it normally is - and as such, we are much more prepared. It's a tragedy that so many people have died, but clearly the infrastructure is not designed to cope with these storms. When this happens in the UK it's not so bad (and the 1987 storm was a lot worse in intensity!).

Remember that Shetland recorded 285km/hr winds in 1962!

You've misunderstood my post......Yes, windspeeds such as these to occur occasionally in the British Isles, but when they do happen, they occur in areas that are sparsley populated eg Northern Scotland where the potential for collateral damage and injuries are much less then say, Southern England (although I must add, that this is no consolation to people that suffer from these storm winds)....The 'Bay of Biscay' storm has affected huge areas, cities et al....had this occured over Southern/Central England, then as mentioned in my earlier post, huge damage, and numerous casualties would have resulted....I for one, watched this storm system with initial interest, and then growing concern as it approached....Anyhoos, my thoughts go out to those people affected, and hope that power supplies etc are quickly restored to those many homes without power

[Phil UK]

I have to concur with Disco Barry and AJPoolShark on this one.

Although rare for areas affected last night to suffer such extreme weather, it cannot be solely blamed on the infrastructure. I've been to France, Spain over the last few years and from what I've seen in all that time, these buildings, hotels, et al can more than withstand the odd gale or two.

When I saw that LP winding up rapidly as it moved through the Bay of Biscay last night I knew that something big was going to occur. I don't normally post in the Worldwide weather discussion unless I think that something serious is going to kick off. Unfortunately, it did and with 9 lives lost and many injured so show some respect please.

If you've seen the video on the BBC website as to how intense those winds were then you could be forgiven for thinking that you were more in the Gulf of Mexico than SW France and Spain. The satellite image I posted (Page 5 I think!) says it all.

Phil.