Storm Eunice - 18th February

[Bristawl Si]

3 minutes ago, NigelM said:

I think this is it.  So much more awareness today vs. 1990 or 1987.  1987 was an absolute monster.  I lived through that in Kent - tiles off roofs everywhere.....roofs off...millions without power.....many died that day.  Intensity of that storm was vicious.

In my earlier posts around lunchtime i deliberately only quoted wind speeds and gusts from our nearest Met Office weather station (up in Almondsbury) because the 'private' local ones (weather enthusiasts i guess) were basically showing markedly different wind speeds and gusts, despite being in close proximity to each other.  So i deduced they're not as reliable, for accuracy, as the local Met Office one.

[beckyonsea]

Power just restored here in Burnham On Sea. Five out of eight fences gone in my row of terraces and lots of trees down. Very thankful this morning missed high tide! 

Power just restored here in Burnham On Sea. Five out of eight fences gone in my row of terraces and lots of trees down. Very thankful this morning missed high tide! 

[Eagle Eye]

Hail and sleet over here as I ventured outside after the main part had come through only for some more gusts as well.

[Harry]

Either a giant is pebble dashing the back of my house or a gusty hail storm is just heading through, with some very strong gusty winds in toe.

[kold weather]

6 minutes ago, Bristle Si said:

In my earlier posts around lunchtime i deliberately only quoted wind speeds and gusts from our nearest Met Office weather station (up in Almondsbury) because the 'private' local ones (weather enthusiasts i guess) were basically showing markedly different wind speeds and gusts, despite being in close proximity to each other.  So i deduced they're not as reliable, for accuracy, as the local Met Office one.

Interestingly looking at the wow network of private stations earlier (around 11.30) most were coming un *lower* than the official stations. Wasn't expecting that!

I do think its pretty clear from the data that it wasn't as intense as either 87/90 but it does appear to beat out any storm since then in the south. I was looking at Kyrill 07 (which was probably the strongest since 90 and until today) and based on what I've seen from the meto stations suggests it was stronger for the south than Kyrill given the breadth and depth of the list if stations above 69mph vs other recent historic storms 

[Eagle Eye]

1 minute ago, Harry said:

Either a giant is pebble dashing the back of my house or a gusty hail storm is just heading through, with some very strong gusty winds in toe.

Can confirm that it's likely a gusty hail storm because there were a few about earlier when I was outside playing footie (when the winds had subsided a little bit)

[Pistebasher]

A real contrast of winds speeds, 46mph recorded here within the red warning zone...Debatable if it's an amber let alone a red. 

[Bristawl Si]

1 minute ago, kold weather said:

Interestingly looking at the wow network of private stations earlier (around 11.30) most were coming un *lower* than the official stations. Wasn't expecting that!

I do think its pretty clear from the data that it wasn't as intense as either 87/90 but it does appear to beat out any storm since then in the south. I was looking at Kyrill 07 (which was probably the strongest since 90 and until today) and based on what I've seen from the meto stations suggests it was stronger for the south than Kyrill given the breadth and depth of the list if stations above 69mph vs other recent historic storms 

Yes they were. In fact, the 'local private' ones were really underestimating wind speeds by quite a margin. Guess, some of them are cheap cr@p

[kold weather]

18 minutes ago, NigelM said:

I think this is it.  So much more awareness today vs. 1990 or 1987.  1987 was an absolute monster.  I lived through that in Kent - tiles off roofs everywhere.....roofs off...millions without power.....many died that day.  Intensity of that storm was vicious.

87 was estimated to have a return rate of about 200 years. I'd guess 90 wouldn't be much behind it.

So yeah this storm probably doesn't come that close to beating those out. I'm struggling to recall another storm that had the death and breadth of high winds as Eunice since 1990 however in the south of England.

[snowsummer]

41 minutes ago, seb said:

A few of us said yesterday that the SE needs watching based on SW wind speeds trending down in most models while in the SE they were increasing.

I think we got that spot on albeit no gusts higher than 90mph apart from a few exposed locations.

It was definitely the worst around here for decades (the damage in Kent and Essex is proof of that) and in the end the Met Office got it right despite all the criticism. Speeds were very similar across the South and when the red warning for the SW was issued confidence for the SE was still a bit lower (the increase had only been shown since yesterday morning). The red for the SE was issued with more than enough time to keep people indoors.

Does the warning system need to be simplified, I think so but in the end the message got out regardless and despite a very pathetic performance of the BBC. ITV and especially GMB’s Laura did an amazing job.

Yes. Laura  was very good at getting through to the general public who dont follow  the weather with the extremes we all do. She should be on here  love her enthusiasm 

[alexisj9]

1 hour ago, stevofunnelcl said:

over 6 hours past the expiration of the Red Warning, my lights are still flickering a bit. Hoping for some calmer time now TBH. but yellow warning out for tomorrow

Still amber for wind here right through.

[alexisj9]

58 minutes ago, Lance M said:

6-hour power outage is over here, thank you engineers! 

I've got about 30 pages of this thread to catch up on over the weekend! In the meantime, would anyone kindly confirm that there wasn't a sting jet in the end? I feel so out of the loop!

The storm delivered everything expected, and more, down here. As a severe weather fan I really quite enjoyed it, but I do hope we've got away with no loss of life across the board.

Not as far as I'm aware.

[snowrye]

Well, Eunice did not disappoint, that was pretty wild for a couple of hours. Came back to the flat to find a 60ft tree, blocking the way in, and the garden fence obliterated

[Nick L]

2 people confirmed killed today, sadly. A dangerous storm like this it was probably inevitable.

[Weather26]

25 minutes ago, Mapantz said:

I've just read that a fatality occurred in London, after a tree fell on a car.

This is sadly correct along with another fatality in Merseyside.

Storm Eunice: Two people killed as strong winds batter UK

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

A woman was killed by a falling tree and a man died after his car was hit by debris in fierce winds.

 

[sunnijim]

5 minutes ago, kold weather said:

87 was estimated to have a return rate of about 200 years. I'd guess 90 wouldn't be much behind it.

So yeah this storm probably doesn't come that close to beating those out. I'm struggling to recall another storm that had the death and breadth of high winds as Eunice since 1990 however in the south of England.

Possibly,focusing on the widespread nature of today's gusts.

However,many storms this century have had comparable gusts to today on the Sussex coast.

[JamesL]

A squally shower coming through this afternoon with soft hail and snow. Temp Circa 3c in Cwmbach around 450’ asl 

[Gowon]

4 minutes ago, kold weather said:

87 was estimated to have a return rate of about 200 years. I'd guess 90 wouldn't be much behind it.

So yeah this storm probably doesn't come that close to beating those out. I'm struggling to recall another storm that had the death and breadth of high winds as Eunice since 1990 however in the south of England.

It was bad today but it can't touch the storm in 1987 for my area.. I was hiding under my duvet that night from the sound of it (I was only 9).

[Tom Montalbano]

Just now, snowrye said:

Well, Eunice did not disappoint, that was pretty wild for a couple of hours. Came back to the flat to find a 60ft tree, blocking the way in, and the garden fence obliterated

Obviously not as powerful as October 1987 or the 1990 Burns Day Storm but certainly a noteworthy event for an Inner London Borough, as here in Lewisham is.

We've lost a section of our garden fence and the neighbours opposite, have lost their guttering.

We would normally expect the Atlantic to be calming down, at this stage of the Winter but none of it this Year, with such a strong Polar Vortex, powering up the Jet Stream. 

Regards,

Tom. 

[CurtisOliver]

15 minutes ago, Pistebasher said:

A real contrast of winds speeds, 46mph recorded here within the red warning zone...Debatable if it's an amber let alone a red. 

Quite bizarre considering you are to the south of me in another county and we did get the high 60/ low 70mph gusts. Just shows how these storms can affect areas differently.

[Ross90]

16 minutes ago, Pistebasher said:

A real contrast of winds speeds, 46mph recorded here within the red warning zone...Debatable if it's an amber let alone a red. 

46 mph isn't even worth a yellow warning but that always happens, big variations in wind speeds are likely. Somewhere 10 miles away could've had 70mph.

[Taylor31]

Just lost my ears in that hail. On my break went for a smoke and regret it now.

[Harry]

3 minutes ago, D.V.R said:

It was bad today but it can't touch the storm in 1987 for my area.. I was hiding under my duvet that night from the sound of it (I was only 9).

I was 11 months old during the 1987 storm - my parents said they'd never been so frightened in all their life. Sufficed to say I have no recollection.

From my area, I think the red warning was totally justified. It is easily the strongest storm since the St Jude's Day storm, which I remember listening to in bed and the roar was phenomenal. I don't have data to compare Eunice with St Jude, but they certainly seemed comparable. Storms always seem different at night compared to the day, so I guess it'll be down to stats.

Certainly sounds like the worst of the wind has finally subsided, which is great news. 

[Mike Poole]

So to the post-mortem then!  All events that have some serious build up to them deserve some post-match analysis!  My takes, and bear in mind that apart from an early morning run prior to things revving up, I haven’t left my flat all day, are:

• The destruction in the south definitely warranted an extensive red warning.  
• Highest ever gust 122mph on Isle of Wight cements the storm in English history.
• The red warning for the southeast must have involved a lot of head scratching, but I think it could have been made before the close of working/school day Thursday without any loss of anguish for those making the decisions - that’s going by the model output we can see, I don’t think there was any significant model output after Thursday’s 12z runs that would have swung it one way or the other.
• The matrix warning system doesn’t work - if it did the big amber warning area yesterday would have been split into the 4 different types of amber warning on the matrix and it wasn’t, it was all the maximum impact, 2nd level likelihood which proved unfounded in many areas.
• The sting jet didn’t happen, but we take from AROME a) that it was on the cards at one point, and b) that it can be modelled and forecast.
• The models did exceptionally well at forecasting this storm from 4 days out.  The degree of consistency was exceptional - even ICON which was consistently wrong!  But the rest of them were very good.  

Until the next one, best regards

Mike

[Wold Topper]

Its giving it a go up here in East yorkshire, Humber bridge recording 80+mph winds, although very exposed,