Scotland - Weather Chat

[alexisj9]

The 1:50am (GMT) Stornoway METAR has came in with a Wind Speed of 79mph, and Wind Gust of 106mph.

Thoughts are with you Scotland.

No wonder windows are getting blown in, my goodness this is bad.

[Gazza H]

Mate just told me he is stuck on M90 southbound heading towards Forth road bridge. A Van seemingly managed to get on the bridge after closed signs had been put in place and has turned over. Seriously why would you even risk it!?

[alexisj9]

Mate just told me he is stuck on M90 southbound heading towards Forth road bridge. A Van seemingly managed to get on the bridge after closed signs had been put in place and has turned over. Seriously why would you even risk it!?

Hope both the van driver and your mate, and for that matter anyone else who is stuck anywhere out in this weather will be alright.

[NorthernRab]

I hope those old trees are not near your house?

They are but they've made it through the years this long. Damage across the Highlands is very likely judging by this, hopefully no one is injured!

[matty40s]

Yet again I can't believe HGV are allowed out in these forecast conditions.

The Paris Shannon flight DJT100 is just about to land safely in Keflavic, Iceland

[Eskimo]

Yet again I can't believe HGV are allowed out in these forecast conditions.

The Paris Shannon flight DJT100 is just about to land safely in Keflavic, Iceland

Nice extra holiday for them then (said in jest)

[LomondSnowstorm]

The 1:50am (GMT) Stornoway METAR has came in with a Wind Speed of 79mph, and Wind Gust of 106mph.

Thoughts are with you Scotland.

 

Bloody hell, sustained hurricane force winds  

To put that in context, the highest low level hourly mean wind from the infamous January 2012 storm was 57 knots (65mph):

 

In the awful 2005 storm the maximum hourly gust on Lewis was 101mph and sustained wind was 67 mph, which was the highest hourly mean since 1980

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/jan2005wind

Stornoway has potentially beaten that record tonight.

Edited January 9, 2015 by LomondSnowstorm

[alexisj9]

Nice extra holiday for them then (said in jest)

If allowed I would treat it as such and take the opportunity to visit the volcanoes, unfortunately though they probably have to stay at the airport or in provided accommodation if there is any

[NorthernRab]

We've lost TV here and lights are flickering - gusting up to 89mph now, I really didn't think it would be this bad?

[Ruzzi]

Some reports starting to sound concerning now, hope everyone stays safe. Have to say, regardless of timing or when the storm hits, if this doesn't merit a red warning from the MetO then seriously what has to happen for one to be issued? I understand it's related to impact etc and timing of rush hour and so on, but this storm isn't letting anyone down with regards to expectation and with the incidents that are already coming in, if they can't justify a red warning then I honestly don't know what does. They mention a threat to life as part of the criteria for a red warning, well I dare say that the weather taking place right now is putting lives at risk over many parts of scotland, damage to buildings, trees felled, vehicles overturned, pretty much every major bridge closed, I'd say the threat is pretty real.... with the strongest still set to peak possibly too.

 

Beyond the drama of tonight, the story for saturday's snow still continues to develop. The MetO now have heavy snow symbols showing for my location on saturday. Latter half of saturday into sunday looking interesting with strongish winds to accompany it.

 

It also has heavy snow showers for the entire day on tuesday and again strong winds gusting towards 50MPH

 

Very interesting weather at the moment, stay safe everyone

Edited January 9, 2015 by ruzzi (snowboy)

[NorthernRab]

Bloody hell, sustained hurricane force winds  

To put that in context, the highest low level hourly mean wind from the infamous January 2012 storm was 57 knots (65mph):

 

In the awful 2005 storm the maximum hourly gust on Lewis was 101mph and sustained wind was 67 mph, which was the highest hourly mean since 1980

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/jan2005wind

Stornoway has potentially beaten that record tonight.

Not to mention we have no indication in terms of numbers how bad it is elsewhere on Lewis and the islands generally - also Sutherland, places like Bettyhill, Farr, Tongue.

[Gazza H]

Calling it a day while it is relatively calm here. Baton down the hatches folks! 

[rossco89]

Some reports starting to sound concerning now, hope everyone stays safe. Have to say, regardless of timing or when the storm hits, if this doesn't merit a red warning from the MetO then seriously what has to happen for one to be issued? I understand it's related to impact etc and timing of rush hour and so on, but this storm isn't letting anyone down with regards to expectation and with the incidents that are already coming in, if they can't justify a red warning then I honestly don't know what does. They mention a threat to life as part of the criteria for a red warning, well I dare say that the weather taking place right now is putting lives at risk over many parts of scotland, damage to buildings, trees felled, vehicles overturned, pretty much every major bridge closed, I'd say the threat is pretty real.... with the strongest still set to peak possibly too.

 

Beyond the drama of tonight, the story for saturday's snow still continues to develop. The MetO now have heavy snow symbols showing for my location on saturday. Latter half of saturday into sunday looking interesting with strongish winds to accompany it.

 

It also has heavy snow showers for the entire day on tuesday and again strong winds gusting towards 50MPH

 

Very interesting weather at the moment, stay safe everyone

I've often felt the Metoffice take the "it's Scotland, they're used to it" approach when it comes to storms like this. If it was the south coast or the south east, they would have issued a red warning days ago.

[LomondSnowstorm]

We've lost TV here and lights are flickering - gusting up to 89mph now, I really didn't think it would be this bad?

To be honest I thought the models might have been overdoing it a little but clearly not - if anything gusts up your way are exceeding the forecasts (sting jet perhaps?).

Was pretty calm here for a while but picking up again now, nothing like as bad as it is further north but even so lights flickering here too and it does look like the worst will be around 5-6am around here. Looks like it may be easing slightly on Benbecula going by the latest update so hopefully we may be nearing the worst for the Western Isles at least but I dread to think what awaits many people up there tomorrow morning, especially Orkney, and also we still have a few more storms to deal with:

 

Not quite on the same level (remember it's in km/h) but still 70+mph gusts to come on a fairly regular basis over the next week, alongside potentially quite a lot of snow, especially for higher ground.

[Stevenf980]

Thurso is getting hit pretty hard right now, worst I've probably ever witnessed up here

I'm meant to be driving to Edinburgh tomorrow! Here's hoping it improves by 11/12 as forecast!

[Polar Gael]

Bloody hell, sustained hurricane force winds  

To put that in context, the highest low level hourly mean wind from the infamous January 2012 storm was 57 knots (65mph):

 

In the awful 2005 storm the maximum hourly gust on Lewis was 101mph and sustained wind was 67 mph, which was the highest hourly mean since 1980

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/jan2005wind

Stornoway has potentially beaten that record tonight.

This is an exceptional storm. The question for the Met Office is: if this doesn't merit a red warning, then what on earth does?

Totally wild outside now, with random bangs and crashes as stuff gets birled around in the wind.

Power cuts across much of the country as well: https://www.ssepd.co.uk/powertrack/

I hope that no one is injured in tonight's storm - please stay safe, fellow kilters.

[Hairy Celt]

Got 2 hours sleep... Wild gusts that just come out of nothing, hammering at the big trees next to the cottage. Gusts that double then double again, keep coming then double again - the noise is really scary. Sometimes I can feel the pressure drop through the house. Curtains flapping. Lights flickering now so prob not long till the power goes. This is really not very pleasant.

[Ruzzi]

I've often felt the Metoffice take the "it's Scotland, they're used to it" approach when it comes to storms like this. If it was the south coast or the south east, they would have issued a red warning days ago.

 

It's beyond a joke! It should never be the case, there is no getting away from the severity and danger that this storm is bringing with it, regardless of timing, location, impact to travel, etc, at the end of the day the storm is bloody dangerous to whoever is in its path. Doesn't matter if only a thousand people were within an area predicted to be severely impacted by a storm in the middle of the night out the outskirts of britain, it's still dangerous to those people and a red warning should be issued for those people on every occasion. I'm not suggesting that's the case with this storm, I'm just using that as an example, personally for this storm I think a Red warning would merit being issued over a large swathe of the country. Overturned vehicles on the M74, Forth road bridge, trees coming down across the country are guaranteed, disruption to rail travel for definite, not to mention potential structural damage to the worst affected areas, power outtages...... I can't see justification not to issue a red warning. It doesn't make any sense. 

[NorthernRab]

Got 2 hours sleep... Wild gusts that just come out of nothing, hammering at the big trees next to the cottage. Gusts that double then double again, keep coming then double again - the noise is really scary. Sometimes I can feel the pressure drop through the house. Curtains flapping. Lights flickering now so prob not long till the power goes. This is really not very pleasant.

Street lights are gone here.

Edit: should really clarify they've gone OUT. Not quite that bad!

Edited January 9, 2015 by NorthernRab

[Stevenf980]

This sounds pretty terrifying, think I'll count myself lucky at the moment then by the sounds of it Caithness is not at the same level as some of you are, at least not yet.

Be safe everyone and good luck!

Edit: winds picked up, lights flickering, window sounding strained, ahh this is scary! Surprised nobody has mentioned global warming yet! Hah

Edited January 9, 2015 by Stevenf980

[LomondSnowstorm]

This is an exceptional storm. The question for the Met Office is: if this doesn't merit a red warning, then what on earth does?

Totally wild outside now, with random bangs and crashes as stuff gets birled around in the wind.

Power cuts across much of the country as well: https://www.ssepd.co.uk/powertrack/

I hope that no one is injured in tonight's storm - please stay safe, fellow kilters.

One of the reasons must be because it's overnight, but frankly if this storm was a few hundred miles further south I seriously doubt we'd still be at just an amber warning. Now I do get that the impact of that would overall be much greater but there are about 250,000 people living in an area which is seeing sustained winds of over 60mph and a town of 10,000 people just had an hour of hurricane force winds - you're not going to get much more extreme conditions in the British Isles than that.

Wind here up a bit but gusts no more than about 35-40mph, but this is a very sheltered location.

[NorthernRab]

To be honest I thought the models might have been overdoing it a little but clearly not - if anything gusts up your way are exceeding the forecasts (sting jet perhaps?).

Really quite surprised myself, although my location is quite high and was within the Amber warning. Normally we're somewhat sheltered but can get bad gusts on occasion. Looking at the stations there seems to be some higher gusts than expected from inland around Aultbea through Glascarnoch then on towards Black Isle, Inverness, Strathnairn and Abriachan.

[milkmaid]

Does anyone know if the winds about to calm down, the police have said they can not get out n to get in the hallway n stay there till they can get them. (Milkmaids daughter)

[Dale Hay]

Does anyone know if the winds about to calm down, the police have said they can not get out n to get in the hallway n stay there till they can get them. (Milkmaids daughter)

The windspeed is on the decline... albeit *VERY slowly*:

1:50am - Wind: 79mph | Gust: 106mph | Pres: 973mb

2:20am - Wind: 70mph | Gust: 99mph | Pres: 977mb

2:50am - Wind: 66mph | Gust: 90mph | Pres: 978mb

But I personally don't know how long it'll be for emergency services.

[LomondSnowstorm]

Does anyone know if the winds about to calm down, the police have said they can not get out n to get in the hallway n stay there till they can get them. (Milkmaids daughter)

 

The worst is to pass in the next hour or so (or may already be passed actually looking at the above), still pretty windy but by 6am more like 40-50mph winds rather than 70mph gusting 100mph as it is at the moment so I'd hope they'd be able to get out by then at the latest.

Edited January 9, 2015 by LomondSnowstorm