Met Office: SIGNIFICANT WEATHER EVENT will hit UK in days as HUGE Atlantic storm ROARS in

The ground is sodden with water here in London. It's so bad that we've lost more trees in the past three months than we have in the past three years. Water saturation + high winds = toppled trees. Wind has been howling around the house for hours now. Could be worse - there are villages on the Somerset Levels that have been cut off for a month or more now.

reply to post by AngryCymraeg


Some iconic historic trees gone here in Wilts too recently, they stood for 500 years or more but the saturated ground and constant wind is relentless.

Are we witnessing climate change in action.?

Is this unsettled weather caused by the Jet Stream now going to be the norm..?

Someone made a comment about humanity in the past being nomadic because of varying weather….. maybe we all need to accept that things are and will change and there's nOTHING we can do about it…

Regards

PDUK

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


I was walking my dog in the forest at the bottom of my road on the weekend and the groaning from the trees in the wind was quite scary.

PurpleDog UK
Are we witnessing climate change in action.?

Is this unsettled weather caused by the Jet Stream now going to be the norm..?

Someone made a comment about humanity in the past being nomadic because of varying weather….. maybe we all need to accept that things are and will change and there's nOTHING we can do about it…

Regards

PDUK

Looks like it could be the norm at least for a while and possibly this is the nicer end of it, it might well ramp up substantially.

I recall reading a lot about various 'predictions' saying the only safe place to be will be the higher ground, metaphorically and literally. Looks like this might be a plan.

It was predictions like this that led people buying up property in that little French village deemed the safest place on Earth to be if it all went apocalyptic, as well as Denver of course!

I don't particularly buy into global warming from humans being the cause either, I think it's probably cyclical. The solar system is nearing the galactic plane and the sun is potentially in a long term activity minimum. There are a lot of factors that point to it being beyond the control of humanity.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Let's hope Norse mythology got this supposed 'prediction' wrong.

www.dailymail.co.uk... 2014.html

The government helped out the people who are suffering in syria which is great but i think they gave too much and now they cant even help out there own people. There are thousands of people in the south of england who have been enduring rain,floods and prince charles visiting the south which i think is pointless. How is a roysl visiting going to stop this mess. The government need to but there thinking caps on and help these poor people of the south

reply to post by leylandthinker


I think the royals are wheeled out to these things as a token gesture as a ''look at how important we think your situation is'' 'morale booster', especially when they they have gotten unfavourable media attention about something. ''Hey look we are the good guys, here's an important national figure to prove it''.

Foreign aid is acceptable as long as all is fine and dandy in your own land and in the UK it isn't.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


The problem with this country is the government want to help every one which i suppose is good but they forgrt about us the hard working people who pay their rediculous wages

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


The express is a terrible source, its windy and rainy atm, but T.I.E! (This is england). Its always rainy and windy.

check out this article they published mid november, in reality I think we could count the flakes that have fallen this winter without it exceeding double figures.

www.express.co.uk...

reply to post by KINGxander


As I said earlier in the thread, I wouldn't normally post anything from the from the Express but did so as I was in too much of a hurry to find the Met Office video elsewhere.

As the title says: Met Office.

Regardless of the UK being rather rainy and windy, the recent storms have caused a lot of damage, which isn't the norm. Coastal erosion, coastal flooding, inland flooding and storm damage have been at the forefront of the news for a few months now, houses have been swept in to the sea and vast swathes of agricultural land and villages flooded for weeks, that also isn't the norm.

The thread isn't about the Express so I won't open or comment on your link or opinion about them.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth



There are storms like this quite frequently. The figures quoted by rational sources are approximately half that of the figures quoted by the express.

The last few months have been very windy, this may seem strange to you as the past few years have been cold with large snow falls which isn't the symptoms of this years winter. I imagine the reason your so confused with all these storms and wind/rain is because of the last 3 winters being cold and icy breaking many low temp records and snowfall records.
I'd be willing to bet you predicted an ice age in a thread over the last 3 years. Or at least claimed that snow in britain at winter wasn't normal!
Oh and im not making light of damage and death occurring around the country due to the storms. If you did research you will find out that this isnt the first storm the uk has had. Id link examples of other floods/storms/any weather phenomenon you like, but you'd only decline the links.

And just because the news headlines something heaps doesn't make it more severe. There just getting good ratings.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


btw coastal erosion has been going on for hundreds of millions of years. So id say thats normal.

agricultural land will and always has flooded because it is low lying and easily becomes saturated.

inland flood, again, has been going on since we first decided to settle by rivers, research storm surges. Or use common sense, rivers have always burst there banks due to heavy rainfall, they are especially susceptible when we periods of frequent heavy rain fall which is very common in britain.

reply to post by KINGxander


I really didn't need your little geography lesson, I know the facts.

This is a thread about a recent storm that happened and is happening that people should know about as it might affect them.

If you don't like that I posted it or feel some strange purpose for giving general weather opinions then don't read it or go to a general weather thread.

This particular thread is about a storm and the Met Office and Environment Office warnings about it, simple!

This isn't a thread for hate followers.

Keep the thread on track.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth



From your thread content I believe you did. I understand where your thread is going, I'm contesting the fact you claim this weather is not normal, having multiple storms in short succession is the cause of the recent flooding and damage to various areas of the country. Which unfortunately will be made worse by the further rainfall forcasted at the end of the week.

I'm promoting discussion. Not flaunting ignorance. This isn't a significant weather event as proposed in the title.

I took part in this thread originally to help show how these things are often overated.

I feel you should be editing your OP to be more useful and solid, rather than making your attempt at arguing look pretty.

i'm not a hater. This isn't twitter. You are not Justin Beiber.

Please....

Discuss the topic and not other members!
Go After the Ball, Not the Player! .... You are responsible for your own posts.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe

###SNIPPED###

Anyway the met office is showing lower figures compared to the express. There aren't severe warnings for wind despite it being gusty atm. Its mainly the rain which is going to cause problems. The forecast of rain is 40mm at the most and 20-30mm in most areas. The storm is also meant to skim the south of the country not hit the whole of Britain so I think anyone further north then the midlands will be quite alright. It'll still be a grim day.

Environment Agency warnings.


www.telegraph.co.uk...

As well as the two severe flood warnings in Somerset, the Environment Agency issued 68 “amber” flood warnings in the South West, south coast and Midlands, with a further 229 “yellow” flood alerts in southern England and Wales.

Gusts of up to 92mph were recorded in the Isles of Scilly on Tuesday night while in Berry Head, Devon, winds reached 91mph.

Wind speeds of more than 74mph are classed as hurricane force on the Beaufort scale.

Devon and Cornwall police received 300 emergency calls on Tuesday night when at least 44,000 homes in the south west suffered power cuts.

Western Power Distribution said 75 to 80mph winds had caused “airborne debris” to fly into overhead lines.

The Met Office warned there will be no respite from the weather with a second Atlantic storm due to hit on Friday night and continue into the weekend.

Heavy rain will continue to swamp the country before the second storm sweeps in.

www.reading.ac.uk...

"There is a clear trend in the UK towards more heavy precipitation events over the last 50 years (in fact this trend is common over many areas of the world). This is consistent with what we would expect in a warming world and is consistent with what climate models predict for the future. Climate models also predict that UK winters may become wetter, leading to more prolonged periods of saturated soils, and increasing still further the risks of flooding. For example, the sort of wet winters we currently see over Northern Europe just once every 20 years could happen almost every other year by the end of the century.

"There's also growing evidence that human induced climate change is already increasing the chances of UK floods and other extreme events. For example, studies have shown that human induced climate change made the devastating floods of autumn 2000, the wettest autumn on record in England and Wales, between two and three times more likely to happen.

"When you look back at seasonal rainfall for the UK over the last 100 years, there is some suggestion of an increase in winter rainfall and a decrease in summer rainfall, but there is also a lot of year to year and decade to decade variability. The last few summers have been wet over the UK. Whether this is an indication of how climate change might affect summer rainfall is too early to say, but it does emphasise the volatility of our climate.

Well, as I live in the far southwest of Cornwall, probably the worst affected area of the storm, I think I am in a position to know what I'm talking about.

I went down to near the prom (going onto the prom itself would have been madness) and witnessed waves going at least 50-60 feet in the air after hitting the sea wall, with water coming much further inland than I have ever seen it before (at least 100 yards), and this was before the height of the storm hit.

I had a few brown-outs, but the power stayed on. Others had no power for a few hours.

At 3 a.m. a weather buoy that monitors wave size reported a wave of just under 75 feet coming in towards land.

The prom itself is smashed to pieces, and so is the 6 foot thick granite harbour wall in places.

I'm not sure it's the worst storm I've ever seen (that would be the storm that claimed the Soloman Browne and Union Star ) but it is certainly the most destructive in terms of damage to the seafront, and properties.

Boats have been smashed inside harbours and the storm damage to roads and trees has been pretty extensive.

The storm itself was exacerbated by spring tides.

Mounts Bay is pretty sheltered so it was a very powerful storm to do so much damage, especially when you consider that the wind wasn't coming in from the same direction as the tide. It is also a fairly shallow bay, and you can walk out pretty far during low tide of a Spring Tide with no danger whatsoever.
To put the relatively sheltered Mounts Bay into context, you can go out of the harbour in gentle 3-4 foot swells, which turn into 15-20 foot (or more) swells outside the bay.

To add yet more context, Cornwall is no stranger to "extreme" weather and high sea's, especially around the tip of the peninsula where the English Channel meets the Atlantic. Add to this some extreme shelving in some area's where the land drops very steeply where it meets the sea (out beyond the low tide point) and you have the recipe for very big swells and waves, especially on the north coast of the county, which has rougher sea conditions than the south coast.
In fact, it is a treacherous coastline and has long been known as extremely hazardous to shipping - again, due to the Channel and Atlantic colliding around Lands End (the most westerly point of the country).

Another storm is moving in, and is expected to hit on Saturday.
According to early estimates, this one is supposed to be even stronger, but the spring tide is receding, so we might not get sea's quite as big.

I'll post a video below of the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster.
At the time, I lived on the North Coast just a few miles from Lands End, and inland about a mile.
A storm that can make a granite house shake (as ours did) is a big one indeed, and the video will give a bit of insight into the conditions.

reply to post by budski


Looks like Cornwall got the worst of it.

According to measurements there were inland wind speeds of 75, 85 and 92mph recorded which is hurricane force if over 74mph, no wonder you and others felt their homes shaking.

The guy on one of the videos from Dawlish whose house was next to the trashed section of railway line, said it felt like an earthquake, his house is missing part of it's front now and is balanced on sand. Other reports from the area are that the sea came so far inland with such massive waves that it ripped peoples front doors off and stones in the waves smashed their windows, many were evacuated.

I used to travel the rail line from Penzance to London often when I lived in Exeter, now anywhere below Exeter won't be able to for round 6 weeks.

Some of the photos of the damage are rather shocking.

Hope all keep safe, especially with the impending storm on Friday night / Saturday!

My best wishes to those already affected - stay safe for what's coming.

I'm so happy where i live in the uk never floods. It really is one thing less to worry about.