Storm Ciarán

[rubble79]

Around the Croydon area it is fairly calm and hardly any wind. The rain is relentless though. 
Hopefully I’ll hear from my family down near Eastbourne soon.

if this had tracked further North, I feel we’d have had an 87. The nearest of misses (aside the coasts!) 

[Kiwi]

3 minutes ago, Easily sled said:

Not even the slightest of breezes here in Winchester. 

Same here in Bramley, just  north of Basingstoke. Dead calm.

[Thunders]

Just now, rubble79 said:

Around the Croydon area it is fairly calm and hardly any wind. The rain is relentless though. 
Hopefully I’ll hear from my family down near Eastbourne soon.

if this had tracked further North, I feel we’d have had an 87. The nearest of misses (aside the coasts!) 

Just saying, it’s just relentless wind with very strong gusts in eastbourne 

[Floatylight]

Nothing of note here.

Been alot of rain.

I was under an Amber warning but it's only just breezy

[rubble79]

1 minute ago, Thunders said:

Just saying, it’s just relentless wind with very strong gusts in eastbourne 

Thanks. I know they are all ok but hope they’ve not had any damage.

 

[Thunders]

Just now, rubble79 said:

Thanks. I know they are all ok but hope they’ve not had any damage.

 

I haven’t seen much damage, only some loose  things going around, but I think the worst isn’t fully here yet

[Vortex3929]

Just now, lottiekent said:

Anyone central southern south coast are at the centre of the low at the moment so as you know, that means winds are calm for the moment.

It does look like according to netwx radar the centre is roughly Reading area. So the expected shift north of Ciaran once it makes "landfall" might have begun.

With that in mind, the SE quadrant, and higher wind gusts should now start being felt in SE, with SW England seeing round 2 of the winds picking up again IMO

[Thunders]

Just now, Vortex3929 said:

It does look like according to netwx radar the centre is roughly Reading area. So the expected shift north of Ciaran once it makes "landfall" might have begun.

With that in mind, the SE quadrant, and higher wind gusts should now start being felt in SE, with SW England seeing round 2 of the winds picking up again IMO

As soon as u said that, the wind went mad

[alexisj9]

7 minutes ago, lottiekent said:

Anyone central southern south coast are at the centre of the low at the moment so as you know, that means winds are calm for the moment.

They are not calm here however, if anything just strengthened a bit. Boom school just text it's closed today, about time too.

Edited November 2, 2023 by alexisj9

[Ellozee]

Really strong gusts now felt on the east Kent coast in Deal. House shaking slightly. Definitely getting started. Girlfriend has decided to brave the rail commute into London despite the warnings on service - no doubt will need picking up from somewhere remote a bit later on. Sigh. Thankful to be working from home. Stay safe.

[Man With Beard]

18 minutes ago, bevo said:

I’m right on the coast east of Southampton and I honestly have seen more stormy weather in my teacups each morning. Apart from the Channel Islands and very exposed coastal areas this has been well over played. My kids school is shut today. Eversince Covid, we’ve become a nation of snowflakes. I went to school on the am of the great storm of 1987 and walked through snow drifts as a kid. Strongest gust so far in mainland U.K. is less than 77mph!!

I think it's been pretty clear for 48 hours that Southampton was just going to see an average storm. It will pick up a bit during the morning as the back edge of the storm swings past.

[Andy Bown]

Calm enough in the centre to have allowed mist/fog to form under the clearer slots, we saw the moon a few times since my earlier post.
 

Now a NW’ly wind digging in and rain starting after a dry 90 ish minutes. 

[bevo]

Just now, Man With Beard said:

I think it's been pretty clear for 48 hours that Southampton was just going to see an average storm. It will pick up a bit during the morning as the back edge of the storm swings past.

So why did Hampshire declare a major incident. There isn’t any incident other than depriving 1000s of kids an opportunity to learn. I’m sorry but Hampshire got this very wrong. I accept it is bad elsewhere but we’ve had much worse wind here and the kids still went to school no problem. 

[Gonzolio Martinez]

Very calm here right now, no wind or rain to speak of at the moment

The rain situation is about to change though by the looks of it

Edited November 2, 2023 by Gonzolio Martinez

[Beverley Lass]

40 minutes ago, Fitzwis said:

Indeed. It's been terrifying and continues to be so. Unconfirmed reports on social media stating that Jersey Met has just recorded our highest gust so far of 100mph (surpassing 96mph in 1987) and a 9 to 10 meter swell is due to impact our shores in the next hour or so coinciding with a 10.1 meter tide. We are being battered. Not good.

Thinking of all the good folks of the Channel Isles.  Had one of my best ever hols there (Jersey)
I hope the zoo animals are safe too.
Must be very frightening indeed.

[wellington boot]

How seriously do we we take this amber warning? Clearly it mentions threat to life from flying debris, which is different from a yellow warning.

Question is how strongly i advise pregnant wife not to go into work in Tunbridge Wells area. I could also drive her myself. Has anyone been out on roads or heard reports in this area?

Obviously the further NW you go the lesser the intensity, and we're further South. Just looking out of the window at the trees all around it looks pretty wild, but we're quite sheltered from S/SW winds so difficult to know how it will look out there.

[Vortex3929]

Sferics detected around Haywards Heath. And is this a hook echo? Right over A22

[P-M]

While the wind is creating some issues down south the rain up here is relentless once more. Localised surface flooding evident as the ground is just too saturated. 

 

I can't remember a period in these parts with as much rainfall over a few week timescale.

 

Stay safe everyone in that strong wind zone.  

[CurtisOliver]

Got some flooding in Brentwood. 

[Thunders]

I’ll need to see if I have to go to school. If I do then I’ll grab some photos of damage. Also, I’m more concerned on why my school hasn’t shut still. Despite the fact that there is multiple reports of the bottom of the road being flooded and the top having a tree right across it

[Fiona Robertson]

8 minutes ago, bevo said:

I’m right on the coast east of Southampton and I honestly have seen more stormy weather in my teacups each morning. Apart from the Channel Islands and very exposed coastal areas this has been well over played. My kids school is shut today. Eversince Covid, we’ve become a nation of snowflakes. I went to school on the am of the great storm of 1987 and walked through snow drifts as a kid. Strongest gust so far in mainland U.K. is less than 77mph!!

I'm glad the impact in your area has been less than you may have expected, however the warning system is based on a combination of severity of impact and liklihood of said impact. It doesn't mean you will get the severe impacts, it's a probabilities game, it means there's a chance you might get severe weather. When you go out in your car you don't get into a crash every time. Do you then complain that your seatbelt was a waste of time? The warning system gives peeps a heads-up of what may be coming their way. It gives them a chance to make any preparations they deem necessary.

It's also important to bear in mind that forecasting the track of this storm has been difficult because of how late and close to the UK it finally exited the jet stream and the track would ultimately decide how severe and widespread the effects of the worst winds would be.

On top of that, you appear to be close to the centre of it where the winds are less fierce. I'm in Scotland, I have nothing, but I don't begrudge a warning for those being impacted by Ciaran. It's weather. Conditions vary from place to place. The Met Office cannot base its warning system for the entire UK based on what the conditions will be over bevo's house east of Southampton.

[alexisj9]

Ok I think things are peaking now, expect thing to calm down,if storm is still moving east soon, is it still meant to lift north at all.

[IanT]

15 minutes ago, bevo said:

So why did Hampshire declare a major incident. There isn’t any incident other than depriving 1000s of kids an opportunity to learn. I’m sorry but Hampshire got this very wrong. I accept it is bad elsewhere but we’ve had much worse wind here and the kids still went to school no problem. 

To repeat part of a post I made yesterday evening: “…a heady combination of cultural risk-aversion in the public sector, misaligned financial incentives, dilettante DR/BCP “officers” enjoying their moment in the spotlight and the popularity of “working from home” means that reaching for lockdown-like measures is all too commonplace.”

 

[clark3r]

It was pretty windy overnight but calm now! I expect the winds to pick up again very soon 

[sunnijim]

67mph the tops here so far

100mph in Jersey is been very impressive.

Certainly dodged a bullet by about 100 miles the South of England.

Standard Autumn Gale really here

Impressive pressure,lowest since 1987 here.

Edited November 2, 2023 by sunnijim