A severe storm knocked out power for millions in Ireland and threatened to disrupt travel across Britain on Friday, the latest punch to a weather pattern that has already brought bitter cold to parts of the United States. And record breaking snowfall.
Damaging rain from the storm, named Evan, is expected to bring strong winds to Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, and parts of northern and western England and Wales on Friday. Wind gusts of between 60 and 70 mph are forecast, and gusts of up to 100 mph are possible along the Irish Sea hills and coast, as well as southwest Scotland.
Some forecast models suggested gusts of up to 120 mph for the west coast of the Republic of Ireland, equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.
By early Friday, the storm had already brought record winds to the Irish coast. At 5am, a gust of 114mph was recorded at Macehead, County Galway, beating the previous national record of 113mph set in 1945.
The winds have been so strong that they have apparently disrupted some attempts to report them: “Irish Weather Service, Erin met,” Strong winds provided data from our stations at Belmullet, Macehead and Murray. I have interrupted. said on social media.
ESB Networks, a state-owned electricity company, said on Friday morning that “extreme, damaging and destructive” winds had caused widespread disruption to Ireland’s electricity network.
Over 560,000 users They were without power until 6 am. That’s about a quarter About 2.4 million Total customers ESB Networks lists on its website.
The intensity of Storm Evan prompted the UK Met Office to issue extreme red wind warnings for Northern Ireland and central and south-west Scotland. It warned of “extremely dangerous conditions with widespread disruptions and significant impacts”. This is the first red wind warning issued for Northern Ireland since the Met Office moved to impact-based warnings in 2011.
Paul Gunson, a chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “We reserve the issuing of red warnings for extremely severe weather that represents a potential risk to life and severe disruption, and that was the case with Cyclone Evan.”
The Irish Met Service issued a high level wind warning for the entire country on Friday.
Rain is also expected in the hills of Scotland, northern England and northern Ireland.
The Met Office has been naming the storms affected since 2015 when its storm naming partners met with the Irish Weather Service, the Irish Weather Service, and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute during the autumn and winter seasons. The storm’s name was chosen by the Dutch Weather Service, which took suggestions from members of the public.
In contrast to the extreme temperatures created by the Arctic blast that has gripped the United States in recent days, warm moist air in the Gulf of Mexico has fueled the jet stream, a high-altitude current of fast-moving air. which drives global weather patterns from east to east, and often plays an active role in UK weather.
The jet stream usually has speeds between 190 and 220 miles per hour, but this week it strengthened to about 260 miles per hour, which has strengthened Storm Evan’s rapid deepening in the Atlantic. And it has moved on apace, expanding to Great Britain and Ireland. The last time Britain experienced a storm of this strength was at the start of December with Cyclone Darg, which was also affected by a strong jet stream. Wind speeds for this storm reached 93 mph in Wales.
The jet stream is also known to power transatlantic flights, which pilots sometimes use to speed up travel and save fuel. On Wednesday, a flight from Las Vegas to London hit a ground speed of 814 mph, close to the subsonic speed record of 835 mph, set by a flight from New York to Lisbon last February. The source was established.
In the United States this week, a bitter Arctic air mass plunged much of the country into dangerously cold conditions, bringing record-breaking low temperatures not seen in decades, and a deadly wind chill.
Evan is expected to clear into the Norwegian Sea on Saturday, bringing a brief stretch of drier and calmer conditions for the day. Sunday and Monday are forecast to bring similar threats to the UK.
Amy graph And Qasim Noman Contributed to reporting.
