UK storms 'worst in 20 years', and more on the way

[rpannier]

The UK is enduring the worst series of winter storms in more than 20 years, weather experts have said, as the country prepares for even more flooding.

The Environment Agency has issued 96 flood warnings throughout England and Wales urging people to take immediate action, while a further 244 areas are on flood alert.

Coastal areas – particularly in southern England – are most at risk as they cope with a combination of unusually high tides and another Atlantic storm on Sunday.

snip

"It's very unusual to have so many powerful storms come in one after the other in such a short space of time, he said. "We haven't seen anything like this since about 1991.

link:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/05/uk-storms-worst-i20-years-and-more-on-the-way

[dipsydoodle]

1. Some background here

Why is the British weather so stormy right now?

For Europe it is normal to get storms at this time of year. Extra tropical cyclones, as they are known, are created by cold polar air meeting hot tropical air, spinning up powerful storms. “There is always a large temperature contrast between these two air masses between October and March, which produces a constant conveyor belt of storms,” says Milan Simic, managing director of AIR Worldwide, a risk modelling company.

But this year the warm air mass sitting over the North Atlantic appears to be extra warm. “Back in the summer warm air from the Sahara moved over the Atlantic Ocean and prevented the formation of North Atlantic hurricanes,” explains Simic.

And that lingering warmth may be partly responsible for the weather patterns we are seeing now. On both sides of the North Atlantic the weather conditions are reflecting the clash between warm and cold air, producing a string of storms for the UK, the Toronto ice storm just before Christmas and severe snow in the north-eastern United States right now.

>

It feels exceptional, and it is tempting to blame global warming, but it could also be that our memories are failing us, and that this kind of weather isn’t so unusual after all.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/shortcuts/2014/jan/03/why-is-the-british-weather-so-bad-right-now

[AverageJoe90]

5. There we go. nt

[dipsydoodle]

6. The unfortunate aspect is the storms coinciding with spring tides.

Aka sods law.

[madrchsod]

2. well could this have something to do with the storms?

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=-14.75,60.30,579

[Berlum]

3. Wow - Vortex Planet!

Excellent map.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Lowest pressure in British Isles for 127 years recorded in Stornoway on Christmas Eve

It is confirmed - the value of 936.8hPa (millibars) recorded at Stornoway at 13h00 today (Christmas Eve 2013) is the lowest value measured anywhere in the British Isles (Britain and Ireland) since 1886. It beats the previous value of 937.6hPa recorded on 20 December 1982, also recorded in Stornoway.

The lowest ever value recorded on land in the British Isles is 925.4hPa, at Ochtertyre (Perthshire, nr, Crieff) on 26 January 1884 - this record remains unchallenged today.

Why weren't the winds hurricane-force? Well, there isn't a direct linear relationship between intensity (depth) of a low and strength of the wind. But they were still very bad today (please don't complain - I am happy the roof is still on my house!).

http://uhi-mahara.co.uk/view/artefact.php?artefact=43030&view=1258

For comparison, the low for Hurricane Sandy was 940 millibars.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, rpannier.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Wow:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25618080 (annoyingly, the BBC doesn't say where that's a picture of)