BRITAIN'S GREAT STORM casestudy - British climate storm example

Question 1

Date of the Great Storm

GREAT STORM

Answer 1

1987 -

15-16th October

Question 2

LOCATION characteristics / description of the storm

GREAT STORM

Answer 2

• most violent storm in Southern England for more than 300 years
• Southampton gusts up to 108mph
• Brighton hardest hit on the south coast
• fortunate that more than 80% if the damaging wind field was offshore
• large temperature increases as a result of the storm; increases of more than 6°Cc per hour were recorded at many places south of a line from Dorset to Norfolk

Question 3

impacts of the storm (don’t forget P.S.D)

GREAT STORM

Answer 3

• 18 dead (7 because of collapsed trees)
• third of country without electricity (London blacked out)
• LDN black out caused stock exchange to close following day & ships were grounded in Thames estuary & rail lines disrupted
• roofs ripped away from homes
• Isle of Wight pier destroyed
• torrential rain; 1000s of acres of land underwater in Kent
• Force II gale power lines down
• £1.4 billion damage in U.K alone
• 150,000 homes without telephone communications:
• Britain lost 15 million trees
• farmers had to milk cows by hand (some had herds of 5,000+)
• a pig breeder was unable to feed his 8,000 animals

Question 4

25 years on: LOOKING BACK

GREAT STORM

Answer 4

• no warning systems; it was a wake up call
• National Severe Weather Office likelihood and impacts network to make plans if severe weather hits; mock scenarios & preparation
• advances in technology which enables more fragiles forecasts; multiple forecasts run to identify risks

Question 5

what caused it?

GREAT STORM

Answer 5

A sharp temperature contrast, where cold air from Iceland collided with warm, moist air heading northwards from the sub-tropics.

The second contributor was the jet stream. The jet stream was much further south than normal for mid-October. It was also moving very quickly, which had the effect of sucking up air from the surface and causing a rapidly deepening area of low pressure to form.

Question 6

What is a jet stream?

GREAT STORM

Answer 6

– a fast moving ribbon of air high up in the atmosphere that determines how weather systems form and where they go.

Question 7

Why do sharp temperature contrasts provide a focal point for severe weather?

(GREAT STORM)

Answer 7

the warm, moist air is forced upwards over cold air.