HURRICANE HELL: DANGER TO LIFE
100mph Ophelia to lash Britain
BRITAIN is hours away from one of the worst storms in a decade, experts warned last night.
And “danger to life” is expected as brutal winds send debris flying.
A raft of weather alerts have been issued to get the nation to “be prepared” as 100mph Storm Ophelia heads in from the Atlantic.
When it arrives on Monday, widespread transport disruption is feared along with power cuts.
Ophelia will strike exactly 30 years since the Great Storm of 1987.
The US National Hurricane Centre last
night put out a warning to be ready. It said: “Ophelia is expected to transition to a hurricane-force posttropical cyclone by Monday when it moves near Ireland and the United Kingdom.
“Residents in Ireland and the United Kingdom should monitor the progress of Ophelia for the next several days.”
The storm was last night charging north-eastwards across the Atlantic, whipping up wind speeds of about 105mph.
In a freak twist it is also dragging a plume of air up from the Continent, bringing a blast of tropical warmth for most regions this weekend with highs of 70F (21C). The mercury could even hit 77F in the South.
Ophelia is due to make landfall in western Britain on Monday before making a 24-hour sweep across the northern half of the country.
The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for gales down the western coast.
A separate alert warns of strong gusts across the North on Tuesday as Ophelia delivers her parting shot.
Met Office chief forecaster Jason Kelly said those in the worsthit regions should prepare for disruption. High winds around coastal regions threaten to whip up colossal waves along sea fronts, he added.
“A spell of very windy weather is likely on Monday,” he said.
“Road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible.
“Power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage. Some damage to buildings, such as tiles blown from roofs could happen, perhaps leading to injuries and danger to life from flying debris.
“Southerly winds are most likely to gust between 55 and 65mph across much of the warning area with the potential for gusts of 80mph in coastal areas.”
Experts fear Ophelia will match Hurricane Gordon which struck in 2006 and Tropical Storm Grace which followed in 2009.
Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: “Tropical Storm Grace which affected the British Isles in 2009 was similar, as was Hurricane Gordon which affected the UK in 2006 and both of these brought strong winds to the UK.”
Met Office forecaster Chris Page said while much of the country will be windy into Tuesday the far Southeast will dodge the worst of it. He added: “Ophelia has moved to a category-2 hurricane. When it arrives it will be an ex-tropical storm but we widely expect winds of 50 to 60mph and could see 70 to 80mph.”
IT IS the night Britain will never forget: the night the worst storm in living memory unleashed hell across the nation, delivering a terrifying warning never to underestimate the weather. As clocks turned midnight families were woken to sounds of howling winds, crashing roof tiles and falling trees.
Britain was unprepared for what awaited the following morning – devastation wrought by the Great Storm of 1987.
Thirty years later and the man at the centre of the furore which was to follow is still rebutting jokes about how he missed one of the biggest storms in British history. Tasked with delivering the BBC late weather forecast on October 15, Michael Fish, now 73, chose to overlook what was lurking in the Atlantic.
A few hours before his broadcast a woman rang in claiming she had heard a hurricane was on the way to which Michael replied on air, “Don’t worry, there isn’t.” Hours later winds were topping 100mph, tearing down power lines and whipping up mayhem from which it would take months to recover.
This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the storm and to this day Michael insists he has been erroneously tarred for making the most infamous gaffe in British forecasting history.
The storm had initially shown signs of heading for France, missing the UK, before it changed direction fooling “everyone”, he says. However, he claims it was the Met Office chief forecaster who issued the fateful forecast which appeared to let Britain off the hook.
He says: “The computer got the forecast spot-on and we had talked about the possibility of stormy weather. However, the computer decided that the storm was heading towards France and would miss the UK. The emphasis for us was on heavy rain.
“But it changed track and at the last minute it headed towards Britain. Fellow weatherman Bill Giles gave the last forecast that night after me and had talked about it being ‘a bit breezy up the English Channel’ but there was nothing more than that to report at the time.
“Neither he nor I had any say in the forecast. It was overseen by the chief forecaster who then passed it down the line to us. But as everyone knows, it was me who was blamed and I have since always been associated with that night.
“It bothered me at the time but I had nothing to do with it, the only thing I did was make that unfortunate remark. Thirty years later and I am here to say I should never have been blamed. We were just the innocent messengers. Michael Fish is innocent.”
WHILE often referred to as a hurricane, the events of that night were the result of a very deep low-pressure system armed with a sting-jet. This small tail at the end of a storm is a region of powerful winds driven by evaporating and cooling rain that feeds energy into the system.
According to Michael, a similar event is “an absolute certainty” although forecasters are far better equipped to spot it next time round, and the next “superstorm” is likely to be even more powerful. “A storm on the same scale as 1987 will most certainly happen again,” says Michael. “However, with global warming, when it does happen it is likely to be more severe.
“Throughout the world temperatures over both land and sea are increasing, allowing the atmosphere to hold more moisture. This means we are starting to get more hurricanes in the Caribbean and although we cannot get a hurricane in the UK, another very powerful storm is likely.”
Modern technology means a giant storm is unlikely to catch the nation by surprise in the same way the terrifying October tempest did, he says. Citing the Burns Day Storm that struck on January 25, 1990, unleashing 100mph-plus gales and killing 47 people he says the nation is already better prepared.
“The Burns Day storm was just as severe as the one in 1987,” he says. “However, on this occasion we were able to forecast it several days in advance. As a result we were better prepared. Now the computers used to forecast the weather are far more powerful than they were in those days.
“There are also many more observations taking place and with social media there would never be a situation when we were not alerted to something like this much sooner.
“You can never be 100 per cent certain with the weather but it is unlikely something like this would not be spotted much earlier next time round.”