The Hogmanay Hurricane - Shetland Dec 91/jan 92

[Guest Viking141]

To give folks an idea of how severe the weather really can be in Bonnie Shetland, I'd like to go back to the so called "Hogmanay Hurricane" of 31st Dec 1991-1st Jan 1992.

Its not unusual for Shetland to get gales at this festive time of year. Indeed they are quite often accompanied by wintry weather as well. On average, January is Shetlands windiest month with an average of 8 days with gale force winds. The storm which walloped Shetland that particular New Year was rather exceptional however!

A low pressure centre of 985mb had developed by mid-day on 31st Dec at a position 57N 27W. Explosive cyclogenesis then occured which deepened the low to 966mb by 1800 that evening. By midnight it had deepened even further to 957mb just NW of Faroe. By this time the centre of the depression had travelled 660nm in just 12 hours, an average speed of some 55kts. The low continued deepening so that by 0600 on 1st Jan 1992 it was 947mb. Pressure falls were recorded as 7mb/hr across Faroe and 5/mb/hr over Shetland.

An all time record mean wind speed was recorded at Muckle Flugga lighthouse on the island of Unst at 73kts (89mph) with unofficial record gusts of over 150kts/173 mph (150 kts was the instrument maximum on the Muckle Flugga light hence the reason it was unofficial and the instrument itself was destroyed by a severe squall sometime around 0300hrs!).

Another unofficial record was set by instrumentation on an oil rig NE of Unst recording mean wind speeds of 103kts/125mph and gusts of 169kts/194mph!

The storm had serious consequences across Shetland with widespread structural damage and two deaths. Two bird watchers in a hut at the bird sanctuary at Hermaness in Unst were blown over the cliff.

Incidentally, the following year, 1993, sam another major January storm which saw the wreck of the tanker Braer. This particular year broke records for having 25 days with gale force winds or above, with 10 days having Storm Force 10 winds or above and 18 consecutive days with gale force winds!!

Mr.Data, how about a chart for the "Hogmanay Hurricane" of Dec 91/Jan92?

Edited August 26, 2006 by Viking141

[johnholmes]

Is this the one?

[Guest Viking141]

Thats the puppy!

Living in Shetland we're quite used to stormy weather but I have to say that was the one occasion I honestly thought our roof was going to come off!

[Terminal Moraine]

I can't compete with those statistics, Viking, but Jan' 1993 was a very windy month down here too.

There were 10 gale days, a record until Jan' 2005, and a gale on the 23rd gave a gust of 93 mph, the highest I've recorded so far.

The mean wind speed at 0500 was 22.7 mph.

I'm assuming where you've quoted 25 gale days it was for January alone and not the whole year of 1993.

Having recorded 93 mph on a hand held anemometer I can't imagine what anything over 100 mph must feel like.

T.M

Edited August 26, 2006 by Terminal Moraine

[Guest Viking141]

I can't compete with those statistics, Viking, but Jan' 1993 was a very windy month down here too.

There were 10 gale days, a record until Jan' 2005, and a gale on the 23rd gave a gust of 93 mph, the highest I've recorded so far.

The mean wind speed at 0500 was 22.7 mph.

I'm assuming where you've quoted 25 gale days it was for January alone and not the whole year of 1993.

Having recorded 93 mph on a hand held anemometer I can't imagine what anything over 100 mph must feel like.

T.M

Yes, the stats I quoted were for January 1993 only, 25 days out of 31 the winds were gale force or above!

[JRMcLeod]

Wind Speeds like that remind me of being at the top of Carn Aosda at Glenshee Ski Resort a few years back, only the windspeeds were gusting about 120mph with little tiny ice crystals hitting your face, hugely sore, like hundreds of little needles...if you faced the direction of the wind you couldnt breathe...also facing uphill with the wind on your back was actually pushing you up-slope quite abit and vice versa for downhill

Edited August 27, 2006 by yeahbabyyeah