15th October ????

[A Face like Thunder]

An innocuous-looking weather map and forecast for 15th October, but which year, and why should it appear under 'Historic Weather'? 

[Weather-history]

Me thinks 1987

1 hour ago, A Face like Thunder said:

An innocuous-looking weather map and forecast for 15th October, but which year, and why should it appear under 'Historic Weather'? 

 

[Jamie M]

1987 by the looks, can tell by the low in the Bay of Biscay that seems to be ominously brewing.

If I recall, the track was meant to go along the Channel or small part of SE? which would have meant some strong winds along the SE but nothing immensely severe. Do remember hearing about French forecasters protesting or something along those lines 

Of course that didn't happen, it ended up over the Humber with some exceptional winds along its southern side. 120 mph at Shoreham before the anemometer failed and the worst storm for 250 years. 

Exceptional temperatures along its marked warm front with Manston at 17°C and Camborne at 7°C at 0000z. Rise of 9.1°C in 20 minutes at South Farnborough.

[Freeze]

I was not around then but it's the most infamous weather event talked about round this area. Max recorded gust at shoreham at 115mph with sustained winds of 73mph, with gives it the equivalent strength of a cat1 hurricane, must have been scary to experience.

[A Face like Thunder]

Correct of course, 1987, and here are the results of the innocuous-looking low pressure in the Bay of Biscay a day later. You can see which way the wind was blowing! Friday 16th October 1987, South London / Surrey. 

[Paul]

The Great Storm Of 1987 | In Michael Fish's Words | Netweather.tv

WWW.NETWEATHER.TV

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Find out about the great storm of 1987 and listen to Michael Fish explain it in his words.

 

[johnholmes]

34 minutes ago, A Face like Thunder said:

Correct of course, 1987, and here are the results of the innocuous-looking low pressure in the Bay of Biscay a day later. You can see which way the wind was blowing! Friday 16th October 1987, South London / Surrey. 

The comment about Ian is quite wrong. He was in fact the senior forecaster on duty that night at London Weather Centre.

[Don]

Remember it well and got the day off school!

[Summer8906]

Wasn't it that the Biscay low was NOT actually the great storm, but an area of rain which hit the southeast during the daytime? (I still have memories of Thursday 15th being wet and gloomy, but not windy) - and then it was a later wave, which wasn't even on that forecast map, which developed into the Great Storm?

Still by far and away the most extreme weather event of my lifetime.

October 1987 was synoptically rather curious in general: I remember it actually started fine and sunny before a low moved up from Iberia and produced some warm wet weather with the threat of thunder and unusual high temps for the time of year. Then it became more generally unsettled culminating in the Great Storm, and remaining so (but to a lesser extent) the following week when there was a prolonged power cut. By contrast the half term week (the week after that) was benign and settled again.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Summer8906

[A Face like Thunder]

I think you are right Summer8906. I recall it poured down during the late afternoon / early evening of Thursday 15th October, but had stopped by about 10pm. The thing I recall then was going to my car to take me home and finding it dripping wet with condensation, a bit like a fevered brow. I don't know why this happened but it was perhaps a sign of things to come. The other thing I recall was of seeing the moon through the overhead trees, never realising that some of the trees were into their last few hours of life.

The week before the Great Storm was certainly v wet in the south east of England, and I recall flooding in the Croydon area sometime between 7th and 9th Oct. This turned out to be a major factor in the downfall of so many trees in the area a week later, with light chalk soil, v wet surfaces, shallow roots and leaves still on the trees all exacerbating the problem.