Atlantic Storms - January 2012

[Chris K]

That 'squall' line is now over me after crossing the Severn between Cardiff and Bristol. Gone very dark but rain and wind aren't increasing much really (it looks as if i'm in some sort of 'gap' in the line on radar haha - it stops SE of Gloucester then restarts just SE of Bristol.). Wind is a steady 18-21mph with 38mph gusts - less than half compared to what others are experiencing! Bit of a mess outside for travelling in still. Looking forward to a windy, but sunny afternoon!

Pressure holding steady at around 994mb(very slightly rising), 25mm of rain recorded in the last 24 hours. Temperature dropped 1c in last 30 minutes now standing at 10.1c.

I can see a brighter skies coming in behind, still grey though.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Bugganuts

[weatherobsuk]

Glasgow Airport closed: all flights cancelled

[Purplepixii]

Gust speeds increasing here, just had a 51.4kph / 32mph gust which was noticeable from the noise generated by something unknown crashing around outside!

Edit: Wow - just noticed the MO red warning for areas of Scotland - stay safe up there folks!!

Edited January 3, 2012 by Purplepixii

[Lancashire Lass]

Really good animation here:

http://www.yr.no/satellitt/europa_animasjon.html

Is that a Sting Jet developing?

[Coast]

The wind is ramping up a bit now and I've just had to go outside with our workshop lads and clear our factory entrance of the fencing and some scaffolding from the building site next door. The gusts are coming thick and fast and really buffeting the office windows, which face the main wind direction today.

Hasn't stopped raining for 4 hours now and can't see any let -up from the radar.

[Alpine glow]

The wind is ramping up a bit now and I've just had to go outside with our workshop lads and clear our factory entrance of the fencing and some scaffolding from the building site next door. The gusts are coming thick and fast and really buffeting the office windows, which face the main wind direction today.

Hasn't stopped raining for 4 hours now and can't see any let -up from the radar.

Yep and that rain is currently pouring through my roof onto my upstairs landing in two different places!

[Andy Bown]

Wow to that squall line. Certainly trumps the several we had last month that lasted just a few minutes!

Around 10-15 minutes of horizontal torrential rain and I don't know how strong the wind was as it changed direction!!

Temp plummeting now, down to 7.1c from 11.1c half an hour or so ago!

[Lyn-M]

The squall line went through here about half an hour ago and, tbh, it was pretty scary. Just glad that I wasn't out in it! Radar gives the impresssion of at least another hour or more of rain.

[tinybill]

thinks the south and the east withing the next hour will have to batten down looks like it could get a bit wild!!!!

[Snowangel-MK]

Wow to that squall line. Certainly trumps the several we had last month that lasted just a few minutes!

Around 10-15 minutes of horizontal torrential rain and I don't know how strong the wind was as it changed direction!!

Temp plummeting now, down to 7.1c from 11.1c half an hour or so ago!

Same here Andy, it was like a freight train - hail stones in the mix as well here and a noticeable drop in temperature as it passed though !

[Coast]

Just on its way to me, pretty impressive as long as it keeps outside of my present location - inside!!!

[Bobby]

Very wet and windy night here, 50mm of rain recorded (2 inches) and some big gusts of wind. Lots of things blown over etc, some local flooding etc. Some potent showers now with hail and even maybe some sleet.

[Coast]

Severe weather warnings issued as storms hit UK

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings across many parts of the UK, as storms batter the country. In Scotland, warnings for both snow and high winds have been issued, and gales have gusted up to almost 100mph.

Storm-force winds and heavy rain are causing disruption in Wales, with fallen trees blocking some roads.Travel is also being disrupted in Northern Ireland, with a warning of gusts up to 90mph. Localised flooding and a significant drop in temperature are expected in parts of Wales and north-west England. The weather conditions meant some East Coast main line trains between London and Scotland had to start and terminate at Newcastle upon Tyne. Buses replaced trains on some East Coast services between London and Harrogate and Hull.

Travel has been disrupted in a number of other ways across the country, including: Blizzards on the A9 at Aviemore in Scotland. The Tay and Forth bridges are closed and the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow is shut due to two overturned lorries. Commuters across Scotland have been urged to travel with caution. Rail services have been affected with ScotRail advising passengers not to travel. Glasgow Airport has warned that cancellations are expected due to high winds.

Police are advising motorists in Northern Ireland to take extra care and slow down. A number of roads have been closed including in Belfast and Londonderry. Some train, bus and ferry services have been affected. In Wales, the A40 between Carmarthenshire and Powys and the A478 between Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion are among roads affected. The Britannia Bridge at Anglesey has been closed to high-sided vehicles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16390088

Twelve people were evacuated from five homes in Dolgellau, Gwynedd, early on Tuesday after a short circuit in an external electrical box, North Wales Fire Service said. Emergency crews were called to the properties in Waterloo Street shortly after 5.15am and isolated the power cables before handing over to the utility company. Elsewhere, the weather is also thought to have caused a power surge at a house in Lon Y Wern, Bangor, which led to a washing machine fire. Nobody was injured in either incident, a fire service spokeswoman said.

Fierce storms have battered Britain, with heavy rain and winds gusting up to 85mph. The bad weather meant some East Coast main line trains between London and Scotland had to start and terminate at Newcastle upon Tyne. Also, buses had to replace trains on some East Coast services between London and Harrogate and Hull. Drivers planning to use the Dartford Crossing between Kent and Essex were advised of possible delays due to gale-force winds. A Highways Agency spokesman said: "As a precaution, the East Tunnel will be closed to northbound, anti-clockwise traffic from 4am with the possibility of gales affecting the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge which normally carries clockwise, southbound traffic from the M25 across the Thames."

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings across many regions of the UK. Forecasters told those living in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be prepared, while localised flooding and a marked drop in temperature was expected for parts of Wales and north-west England. Scotland was braced for the harshest weather conditions - the Met Office has issued warnings for both snow and high winds. Parts of Wales saw gusts of more than 90mph in the early hours, with gusts of 93mph hitting Aberdaron in North Wales.

Billy Payne, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "Much of Wales and south-west England have had gusts of over 60mph this morning. " He warned of "heavy rain, stormy winds and severe gales with damaging gusts", but said the rain should clear most parts of the country by this afternoon. The A628 around Woodhead Pass in the Peak District between the A616 and A57 has been closed in both directions to all traffic due to wind speeds gusting between 60mph and 80mph, said the Highways Agency. The A66 between the A1(M) and the M6 is also closed to high-sided vehicles.

The severe weather was having a big effect on rail services in Scotland. Buses were replacing trains between Helensburgh Central and Dumbarton Central, while trains between Dalmuir and Hyndland via Singer were being diverted via Yoker.

http://www.google.co...01325587435509A

A bus driver had to be freed after a large tree fell on his vehicle, trapping him inside in Witley, Surrey. The single-decker Stagecoach bus was in Petworth Road when the oak tree, measuring 6ft across, fell on to it at about 8.25am. A Surrey Police spokesman said: "It is believed that the driver, who was freed by fire crews, has suffered serious injuries and he is being taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting. "There was only one passenger on board the bus at the time of the incident, who escaped uninjured. "The tree is also believed to have damaged a nearby building."

Britain's biggest port, at Felixstowe was expected to remain closed for the rest of the day as lethal storms rage across the North Sea. Ferry services from Dover are also disrupted, with P&O reporting delays on the Dover to Calais route. The QEII Bridge on the M25 between Essex and Kent at Dartford was shut after the Highways Agency said it was too dangerous to let traffic across. Fallen trees and flooding also caused problems on many roads in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Surrey Police said traffic was delayed across the county as fallen trees closed roads, including the A287 Hindhead Road between Hindhead and Haslemere.

In West Sussex, flooding closed a lane on the eastbound A27 Chichester by-pass between Fishbourne Road and Oving Road and the B2100 was blocked both ways between Wadhurst and Mark Cross in East Sussex. Meanwhile in the Thames Valley, hundreds of homes were plunged into darkness this morning after the storms brought down power lines across the Reading area of Berkshire.

And in the South West, the Environment Agency has "yellow" flood alerts active on 21 rivers from Cornwall to Wiltshire. The Tamar Bridge, which spans the river between Devon and Cornwall, has been closed to high-sided vehicles because of strong winds. First Great Western rail services between Truro and Penzance are being affected by an obstruction blocking "all lines". Transmanche cancelled its ferry services between Newhaven, in East Sussex, and Dieppe, as forecasters predicted gusts topping 70mph. Wightlink cancelled its crossing from Lymington, Hants., to Yarmouth, on the Isle of Wight, while people heading to Dover were warned their ferries could also be affected by the high winds. In Lymington itself, the A337 Southampton Road was blocked, due to a fallen tree, as was Bartons Way, in Havant, Hants., where a tree had fallen onto a parked car.

In Hamble Lane, in Bursledon, Hants., a telegraph pole was blown down, causing traffic chaos on surrounding roads as engineers had to make the area safe before removing the pole. Fallen trees also blocked the A333 at Blashford and Newtown Road, in Southampton. Parts of the south coast city were left in the dark as the weather caused power cuts. The latest round of unsettled weather will add more misery to the January blues as people return to work after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Parts of Wales have seen gusts of more than 90mph in the early hours of today, with gusts of 93mph hitting Aberdaron in north Wales. Weather experts predicted a marked drop in temperature yesterday, with the unusually mild conditions that prevailed over Christmas and the New Year making way for more seasonal mercury readings. Issuing a yellow warning for strong winds and heavy rain, the Met Office said: ''A spell of wet and very windy weather will affect the UK during Tuesday.'' The bad weather meant some East Coast main line trains between London and Scotland had to start and terminate at Newcastle upon Tyne. Also, buses had to replace trains on some East Coast services between London and Harrogate and Hull.

http://www.telegraph...power-cuts.html

[Moisty]

Squall line just passed through here and was pretty entertaining, very dark, power flickered on and off and then 10 minutes of horizontal rain. Certainly glad I wasnt driving on the exposed parts of the M3

[Tilly]

the winds picking up again here in Kent. Its been pretty gusty here all morning on and off but nextdoors bush looks like it might take off at any minute. Are we in for a soaking in the next few hours?

[bobbydog]

i think the squall line is nearly on me, rain is getting torrential now...

[DavidHB]

washing machine outside, wont be popping my head out again that's for sure, when is this next LP supposed to be moving in?

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Holley Molley that just woke me up! Thought the roof was gonna come in lol. Looked out window and couldn't see the houses over the road due to the driving torrential rain. Was like "hurricane" - geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeperzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[kold weather]

Squall line looking pretty intense on the radar, some big rain about to hit London thats for sure!

[Lauren]

We haven't had the squall line yet here.

I've got my phone out ready to film. We only have single glazing here at work. Eeeeeekk!

[bobbydog]

actually the squall is not as close as i thought, probably got about an hour before it gets here, maybe less but things are definitely getting more intense out there!

[Sprites]

Squall just passed through, 45mph gusts and heavy rain, 7mm hailstones, looks like hampshire is in the potent area just now.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Definitely not a good day for bin collection. Awful morning here.

Our postman was walking around in that squall.

[DavidHB]

ya the Squall line was pretty intense broke my guttering, was like a fire hose on the windows,

[weatherobsuk]

Overnight Storm damage..no location sadly

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/85/38997510150570488517292.jpg/

Squall will be evident on the tower bridge cam shortly

http://www.ustream.tv/towerbridge