Gale of 27th March 1987

[A Face like Thunder]

In the context of gale force winds in 1987, the gale of Friday 27th March came a poor second to that of The Great Storm of 16th October. However because it occurred during the working day, it had severe effects, particularly in Southern England and South Wales.

I remember this day because our office in Sutton overlooked a half built block of retirement flats. The workers seemed to be having a long weekend off (perhaps fortunately) and when some uncovered roof beams came crashing down in the wind in a heap on the ground, there was nobody around to clear up the mess. This happened the following Monday and replacement beams soon followed and, to the best of my knowledge, they are still there today, with the present retirement home residents unaware of the drama 33 years ago.

The gale of 27th March 1987 brought local tragedy as three men were killed in their van by a falling tree on the A217 at Lower Kingswood, and a train passenger was badly hurt by a tree which speared his carriage at Dormansland. Both incidents are referred to by Mark Davison and Ian Currie in their very good 1990 book on Surrey Weather.

Top wind speeds were 107 mph at Gwennap Head in Cornwall and 100 mph at Burrington in Devon (Philip Eden).  

What a contrast to the calm sunny weather of today, 33 years later.

 

   

 

Edited March 27, 2020 by A Face like Thunder

[Penrith Snow]

Isn't this the day that the UK wind speed record was set on Cairngorme Mountain summit? Or maybe that was 1986?

[A Face like Thunder]

According to Mr Google, it was 20th March 1986 when a wind speed of 150.3 knots or 173 mph was recorded on Cairngorm summit. Presumably there was nobody physically around who witnessed this historic moment!

Edited March 28, 2020 by A Face like Thunder