Storm Corrie followed hot on the heels of Storm Malik at the end of January 2022. With already weakened trees, thousands of homes lost power as gusts of 92mph hit Scotland.
The end of January 2022 saw a stormy weekend after a very dry, often settled and calm month. Storm Corrie was the third named storm from the Western storm naming group and hit Scotland during the night of Sunday 30th and Monday 31st. It was named by the UK Met Office, one of three members of the group which also includes Met Eireann (Ireland) and KNMI (Netherlands).
An amber wind warning had been issued for northern Scotland including the Islands and as it was an after dark event people were prepared for significant gusts. The level of warning takes into account forecast likelihood and impacts which vary with the severity of the weather but also the time of day and locality.
One concern about the end of weekend incoming Storm Corrie was the pre-existing conditions. Back in late November 2021, Storm Arwen battered NE Britain from an unusual wind direction. The damage to trees was so widespread that there is still a lot of clear up work to be done with hanging branches and plenty of weakened trees. Also still fallen or pulled overhead cables. Just before Storm Corrie, the UK experienced Storm Malik. This was named by DMI (Denmark) and brought stormy weather to northern UK on Saturday 29th January 2022. Denmark belongs to the Northern storm naming group with Norway and Sweden. This is why we have a storm beginning with M and then a storm beginning with C, they are in different naming groups. By day there was an Amber warning for NE and eastern Scotland and NE England along with a wider yellow warning. With a gust of 85mph recorded, there were power cuts, fallen trees and rail disruption on Saturday. Storm Malik then headed off towards Demark, more of Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea as the UK waited for Storm Corrie.
The Western Isles bore the brunt of the storm on Sunday evening with wild seas and large waves. Trees down, vehicles damaged, power outages and shed roofs lost. The top gust for Storm Corrie was 92mph, recorded in Stornoway and also Aberdeenshire.
“The graph shows the maximum wind gust recorded in each minute.” MO
It was another noisy night with gusty winds, lashing rain in the northwest and the tension of what might fall or break. The low pressure moved over the top of northern Scotland to the North Sea, with the strongest winds lasting into Monday morning for eastern Britain. There were roof tiles off, bricks falling onto parked cars, whole roofs blown off. Even more trees felled, blocking roads and railway lines once more.
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By Monday morning SSEN, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said they has 40,000 homes without power including 7,000 still from Storm Malik. 68,000 customers were affected in the first storm. SSEN said that around 38,000 customers were affected by Storm Corrie with 4,000 having their power restored more quickly. Major faults occurred in the Stonehaven and Deeside areas.
“continue to respond to the significant damage caused to network infrastructure as a result of Storms Malik and Corrie. “SSEN
Northern Powergrid in northern England also still had thousands of customers without power after the weekend. 80,000 customers were affected by Storm Malik, but most had their power restored. However, 1,800 in Northumberland, Co. Durham and Tyne & Wear remained without power until Monday. Storm Corrie caused additional disruption with 17,000 interruptions but again most, not all, of those have been sorted.
Andy Bilclough, Director of Field Operations, said: “It is fair to say that Storm Corrie hasn’t helped. But we are making good progress and we have more teams coming to help later in the day. “
For those people who were affected by Storm Arwen, yet another winter blackout will be worrying. The power companies have reflected on the response last year and are hoping to keep people better informed as they get the power network fixed.
The Thames Barrier had to close on Monday as did flood defences in the Netherlands. This was due to Corrie pushing a surge down the North Sea on top of spring tides. As Storm Corrie arrived for the Netherlands, Corrie being a Dutch name from the list, there were more trees down and disruption with wild seas, large waves and coastal flooding. Quite an end to another wise uneventful month.
Name our Storms What are the storm names for 2021/22?
