The Great Storm Of 1987

[Jane Louise]

There's been a lot of questions and discussions regarding the great storm of 87 in the Atlantic thread. So to keep each thread on topic , I thought I'd open this for anybody to ask questions, compare and chat about the storm of 87 until their hearts content.!

The Great Storm of 1987 occurred on the night of 15/16 October 1987, when an unusually strong weather system caused winds to hit much of southern England and northern France. It was the worst storm to hit England since the Great Storm of 1703[2] (284 years earlier) and was responsible for the deaths of at least 22 people in England and France combined (18 in England, at least four in France).[3]

According to the Beaufort scale of wind intensities, this storm had winds of hurricane force; however, the term hurricane refers to tropical cyclones originating in the North Atlantic or North Pacific. Hurricanes have a very different wind profile and distribution to storms, and significantly higher precipitation levels.

The storm was declared a rare event, expected to happen only once every several hundred years. However, the Burns' Day storm hit the United Kingdom in January 1990, less than three years later and with comparable intensity.

Four or five days before the storm struck, forecasters had predicted bad weather on the following Thursday or Friday. By midweek, however, guidance from weather prediction models was somewhat equivocal. Instead of stormy weather over a considerable part of the UK, the models suggested that severe weather would reach no farther north than the English Channel and coastal parts of southern England. During the afternoon of 15 October, winds were very light over most parts of the UK. The pressure gradient was slack. A depression was drifting slowly northwards over the North Sea off eastern Scotland. A col lay over England, Wales and Ireland. Over the Bay of Biscay, a depression was developing.

The first gale warnings for sea areas in the English Channel were issued at 0630 UTC on 15 October and were followed, four hours later, by warnings of severe gales. At 1200 UTC on 15 October, the depression which originated in the Bay of Biscay was centred near 46° N, 9° W and its depth was 970 mb. By 1800 UTC, it had moved north-east to about 47° N, 6° W, and deepened to 964 mb. At 2235 UTC, winds of Force 10 were forecast. By midnight, the depression was over the western English Channel, and its central pressure was 953 mb. At 0140 on 16 October, warnings of Force 11 were issued. The depression now moved rapidly north-east, filling a little as it did, reaching the Humber estuary at about 0530 UTC, by which time its central pressure was 959 mb. Dramatic increases in temperature were associated with the passage of the storm's warm front.

It is now clear that for sea areas, warnings of severe weather were both timely and adequate, although forecasts for land areas left much to be desired. During the evening of 15 October, radio and TV forecasts mentioned strong winds, but indicated that heavy rain would be the main feature, rather than wind. By the time most people went to bed, exceptionally strong winds had not been mentioned in national radio and TV weather broadcasts. Warnings of severe weather had been issued, however, to various agencies and emergency authorities, including the London Fire Brigade. Perhaps the most important warning was issued by the Met Office to the Ministry of Defence at 0135 UTC, 16 October. It warned that the anticipated consequences of the storm were such that civil authorities might need to call on assistance from the military.

In south-east England, where the greatest damage occurred, gusts of 70 knots or more were recorded continually for three or four consecutive hours. During this time, the wind veered from southerly to south-westerly. To the north-west of this region, there were two maxima in gust speeds, separated by a period of lower wind speeds. During the first period, the wind direction was southerly. During the latter, it was south-westerly. Damage patterns in south-east England suggested that whirlwinds accompanied the storm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987

[lorenzo]

I was pointed today to this event in our Regional thread.

if the track of the system remains as a channel low and meanders south then these links are also relevant.

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_(storm)

http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/WEBOPS/iotm/iotm/19991226_storm/19991226_storm.html

[johnholmes]

this link may help

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/teens/case-studies/great-storm

or this link to the R Met Soc site for a review of events from a 20 years perspective

http://www.rms.com/publications/Great_Storm_of_1987.pdf

[Purplepixii]

thanks for the thread JL, this week's storm is certainly prompting comparisons / questions between the two :o

[johnholmes]

thanks for the thread JL, this week's storm is certainly prompting comparisons / questions between the two :o

very different p

originating in a totally different area

no ex hurricane mixed up in it

who knows if it will deepen rapidly as the 1987 did. We now understand sat piccs and receive them more routinely than in 1987. Only a research team at Bracknell were beginning to talk between themselves about the so called 'hammer head' deveopment which showed on the 1987 storm. No use to the senior man, as a research team they went off duty anyway at 5pm!

data assimilation has come a long way since then, sea data, airlines data , buoys etc.

[Purplepixii]

that's probably very true John but not all of us necessarily "get" the difference which is why it's great when people like you take the time to answer our questions. I don't really remember 1987 and I didn't live on the South Coast then so it's all a bit new to me

[johnholmes]

that's probably very true John but not all of us necessarily "get" the difference which is why it's great when people like you take the time to answer our questions. I don't really remember 1987 and I didn't live on the South Coast then so it's all a bit new to me

I could drone for pages about the event but will not bore everyone both being on duty at 0600 that morning, well away from the mayhem further south (at RAF Valley-Anglesey) surrounded by not only the usual Met office piles of paper but huge and I mean huge amounts of RAF signal traffic caused by the storm. The being part of the international team at the Met O College charged with finding out just what did happen, yep all very interesting. I also knew Ian Mac very well in those days and had an illuminating coversation with him before he went off duty after his 'chat' with one of the newscasters that morning. Poor bloke was marooned at London Weather Centre, his relief unable to get in, roads and railways blocked and he had been on all night desperately trying to get warnings by the score out to those needing them. Ians' turn of phrase could be quite Celtic if he wanted, that morning he was in full flow and understandably so having been unjustly blamed by the BBC for his chief's 'cock up' to quote him.

[Purplepixii]

It's amazing how often there is more to a story than the public is aware of and the good old public can always be relied on to only hear what they want to hear. Sad but true Does sound like a story to be told down a pub by a roaring log fire over a beer or two!

[johnholmes]

It's amazing how often there is more to a story than the public is aware of and the good old public can always be relied on to only hear what they want to hear. Sad but true Does sound like a story to be told down a pub by a roaring log fire over a beer or two!

true enough but honestly it is a true story

[knocker]

I could drone for pages about the event but will not bore everyone both being on duty at 0600 that morning, well away from the mayhem further south (at RAF Valley-Anglesey) surrounded by not only the usual Met office piles of paper but huge and I mean huge amounts of RAF signal traffic caused by the storm. The being part of the international team at the Met O College charged with finding out just what did happen, yep all very interesting. I also knew Ian Mac very well in those days and had an illuminating coversation with him before he went off duty after his 'chat' with one of the newscasters that morning. Poor bloke was marooned at London Weather Centre, his relief unable to get in, roads and railways blocked and he had been on all night desperately trying to get warnings by the score out to those needing them. Ians' turn of phrase could be quite Celtic if he wanted, that morning he was in full flow and understandably so having been unjustly blamed by the BBC for his chief's 'cock up' to quote him.

Interesting John as I was working that night as well, wasn't as involved as you were of course, just had the small problem of launching the de luxe METO mark 11 radiosonde without taking part of the perimeter hedge with it. The sonde wasn't partial to even the slightest knock. In fact the Burns Day storm was worse in Cornwall and surprise, surprise I was also working.

[jo200199]

Finally, this thread is working :-) The 1987 storm was the first and the last real storm I can recall. I was 6 years old at the time and there was just my mother and I at home. We watched out of the window by candle light because the electricity had been knocked out. I remember the howling wind and the fork lightening, it hit the huge oak tree on the patch, a few hundred yards in front of our house. It actulally split the tree :-0

Edited December 14, 2011 by jo200199

[cj114]

I lived right in Epping Forest at the time [i'm not far away now] and hearing all those huge tree's crashing down was the saddest thing I have ever heard. I got the Pics the following day.............................thousands were lost although you would never know it now.

A [hopefully] once in a lifetime storm that one. The one in 1990 was probably worse as it was during the day and we were all out and about in it. Lifted my Car up whilst waiting at the roundabout!

I don't mind admitting that Wind scares me a little now.

[Coast]

Lots more on 1987 here:

http://forum.netweather.tv/topic/40776-the-great-storm-of-october-1987/