Lessons and legacy of the Great Storm of 1987

[knocker]

October marks the 30th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1987, which hit the south of England.

Quote

Forecasters at the time had been predicting severe weather up to four days ahead, but, as time went by, weather prediction models of the time gave an unclear picture. Models suggested severe weather would pass to the south of England only skimming the south coast.

Most of our autumnal storms head in from the Atlantic to the west of the UK. However, this storm developed over the Bay of Biscay to the south.

Particularly warm tropical air and very cold polar air collided, forcing warm air to rise creating an area of low pressure. A big difference in temperature between the warm and cold air helped to cause a rapid ascent and therefore a particularly low pressure. To the west of the low, pressure rose rapidly leaving a big differential in pressure, which can be seen in the tightly drawn isobars of the chart below.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/barometer/features/great-storm

[cheeky_monkey]

jeez...30 years ago!! seems like it was more 10 years ago

[stewfox]

I was a student at Portsmouth Poly and Portsmouth was badly hit . Remember the next day going to lessons on bike and trees were down. 

[Sunny76]

I remember this event, and wonder if this was one of the earliest signs of a shifting climate. We had a run of milder winters after 1987.