2013–14 Atlantic winter storms in Europe

2013–14 Atlantic winter storms in Europe

NOAA North Atlantic wind speed anomaly January–February 2014
Type	Extratropical cyclones European windstorms

2013–14 Atlantic winter storms in Europe were a series of winter storms affecting areas of Atlantic Europe and beyond. The French Atlantic coastal regions (chiefly Brittany), South West and Southern England, West Wales, Ireland, Spanish Atlantic coastal regions (particularly Galicia) were especially affected by a "conveyor belt" series of high-precipitation storms (mostly not exceptional for their winds) and by high tides. Many storms were explosively deepened by a strong jet stream, many deepening below 950 hPa. The repeated formation of large deep lows over the Atlantic brought storm surges and large waves which coincided with some of the highest astronomical tides of the year and caused coastal damage. The low pressure areas brought heavy rainfalls which led to flooding, which became most severe over parts of England such as at the Somerset Levels. The repeated storms fit into a pattern of disturbed weather in the Northern Hemisphere, which saw from November 2013 a disturbance to the jet stream in the western Pacific, which propagated eastwards bringing a warm winter to Alaska, drought to California, and repeated cold air outbreaks to the eastern USA where the 2013–14 North American cold wave resulted.

Autumn 2013

The end of October brought the St. Jude storm, ranked within the top 10 most severe storms in the autumn across southern England in the last 40 years.^[1] following the St. Jude storm a series of low pressure systems swept across western Europe bringing winds and rain, though not developing anywhere near as deeply as the St. Jude storm. A low named Godehard^{[Note 1]} was the strongest of these low pressure areas and brought some disruption to Wales, with a gust of 89 miles per hour (143 km/h) recorded at Mumbles.^[2] Storm-force winds left 10,000 homes without electricity in Wales on the first weekend of November 2013.^[2] On 2 November the M4 Motorway was closed between Margam and Pyle due to the weather, and a roof canopy at the Princess of Wales Hospital Bridgend was damaged.^[2] The old Severn Bridge on the M48 motorway was closed, with speed restrictions in place on the Second Severn Crossing. The M4 at Briton Ferry -where the motorway crosses the Neath- also saw speed restrictions and the Britannia Bridge to Anglesey and the Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire also saw speed restrictions enacted. Natural Resources Wales warned of localised flooding with sea spray and overtopping of sea defences along the Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Newport coasts.^[2] The low pressure also brought large waves to Aberystwyth which caused some disruption to seafront properties.^[3]

November/December 2013

Late November and early December saw an area of high pressure positioned to the west of Britain and Ireland, this directed the westerly path of weather systems moving over the Atlantic to the north of the UK, along which the storms developed before impacting across the Nordic countries. Lows moving to the north of the United Kingdom meant that November was fairly dry for the country.^[1] December saw long periods of calm conditions in France also with dry and sunny weather predominating. A change in the weather regime began as active depressions brought strong rain and snowfall to the mountains towards the month end. Until December 13, France (and UK and Ireland) were protected by a powerful anticyclone stretched from the Maghreb to the British Isles, which deflected the Atlantic storm track north into Scandinavia.^[4] The Nordic nations were affected by a series of storms, including Hilde (17 November),^[5] Oskari (1 dec),^[6] Xaver (5-7 Dec), Ivar (12 Dec)^[5] and Zaki and Adam (14-15 Dec). Cyclone Xaver is predominantly known for the North sea storm surge of 5 December in the UK. The high pressure over Britain, Ireland and the Atlantic moved east during mid December, opening the way for areas of low pressure to reach western Europe. During mid-December a strong temperature gradient established over eastern North America (temperatures in New York 21 °C, Montreal -7 °C), which enhanced the jetstream in the North Atlantic.^[7][8] The lows moved under this powerful jet stream where they explosively deepened before reaching Western Europe.^[9]

Christmas and New Year storms

Bernd (18–19 December)

Bernd

Formed	17 December 2013
Dissipated	21 December 2013
Lowest pressure	947 hectopascals (28.0 inHg)[10]

The first storm of this period was named Bernd,^{[Note 1]} it was also given the name Emily after Emily Brontë the author, who died on December 19 165 years ago, and who wrote Wuthering Heights which featured constant stormy weather by some press.^[11][12][13] Met Eireann issued red warnings for wind at 9:00am 18 December to Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo.^[13] The UK Met Office issued orange warnings for the Highlands, Western Isles, Strathclyde and Northern Ireland.^[14]

Dirk (23–24 December)

Dirk

Formed	21 December 2013
Dissipated	28 December 2013
Lowest pressure	929 hectopascals (27.4 inHg)

Dirk formed over North America,^[16] some storminess was associated with the low in Canada, before it moved into the Atlantic. The preceding weather in North America saw a steep temperature gradient (temperatures in New York 21°C, Montreal -7°C) which enhanced the jetstream in the North Atlantic.^[17] The low moved under this powerful jet stream where it explosively deepened before reaching Western Europe.^[16][18]

Deepening below 935 hectopascals (27.6 inHg) is considered uncommon in the North Atlantic, but has been recorded on a number of occasions, measured from ships transiting the ocean and from land based-recording stations.^[19] Offshore the minimum low pressure of the "Dirk" storm was forecast to reach a low of 927 hectopascals (27.4 inHg).^[20][21]

On land the low pressure during the storm was measured at 936.8 hectopascals (27.66 inHg) on 24 December at Stornoway, Isle of Lewis off the north west coast of Scotland.^[22][23] This the lowest measured in Britain and Ireland since 1886 (127 years), when a low of 931.2 hectopascals (27.50 inHg) was recorded in Belfast, Northern Ireland.^[22] The most recent low pressure record near such values in Stornoway was measured on 20 December 1982 at 937.6 hectopascals (27.69 inHg).^[22] The all-time low pressure record for the British Isles remains at 925.4 hectopascals (27.33 inHg), recorded at Ochtertyre, Crieff in Perthshire on 26 January 1884. However, this was beaten by the 728 mb during December 2015's Storm Frank.^[22]

At the southernmost tip of the Faroe Islands a low air pressure of 932.2 hPa was recorded on Christmas Eve at Akraberg lighthouse.^[24] This was not as low as the Faroese record of 930.3 hPa, set at Vagar airport during the passage of the Braer Storm of January 1993.^[24]

Erich (26–27 December)

Erich

Formed	25 December 2013
Dissipated	1 January 2014
Lowest pressure	944 hectopascals (27.9 inHg)

Felix & Gerhard

Lows Felix II 966 hPa, Gerhard 970 hPa and Anne 993 hPa, on 1 January 2014

A stormy period between Christmas and New Year followed as Weather fronts associated with the lows Felix (December 30) and Gerhard (January 1) passed over the UK which brought further rainfall and some stormy conditions.

The Felix low was more remote from European mainland and brought strong tightening of isobars across NW France, where winds of 141 km/h were reported in Camaret-sur-Mer, Brittany. Low near Iceland brought winds up to 140 km/h to that country, and disrupted traffic and heavy rainfall and brought more flooding to the United Kingdom.^[26] At Croyde Bay in north Devon a woman was rescued from sea who later died on 31 December.^[27]

27 year old man swept out to sea on Loe Bar Porthleven Cornwall New Year's Eve, and on 1 January a man was found dead on the banks of River Torridge in Bideford, Devon.^[28] Over the holiday period, several New Year outdoor swimming events were cancelled.

Notes

1. ^ Naming conventions (where possible) follow those adopted by the Free University of Berlin's adopt a vortex scheme. Names from other sources referenced in article.

References

External links

• House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Winter floods 2013–14
• Met Office and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology: The Recent Storms and Floods in the UK, February 9 2014.
• Met Office: Marine weather analysis - December 2013 & January 2014
• Environment Agency report
• Met Eireann: What’s up with the Weather this winter? Aidan Murphy 14 February 2014.
• Met Eireann: Winter 2013/2014, 3 March 2014
• Environment Agency Flickr Galleries:

• St Jude's day storm
• December 2013 East Coast Surge
• Tidal Surge recovery December 2013
• December 2013 flooding
• January 2014 flooding
• February 2014 flooding

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northern Atlantic cyclones.

European windstorms
Historical	Grote Mandrenke Burchardi flood Great Storm of 1703 Great Storm of 1824 Night of the Big Wind Moray Firth fishing disaster Tay Bridge disaster Eyemouth disaster
1900s	North Sea flood of 1953 Hurricane Debbie 1961 North Sea flood of 1962 1968 Scotland storm Quimburga 1972 Gale of January 1976 December 1981 windstorm Ex-Hurricane Charley 1986 Great Storm of 1987 Burns' Day storm 1990 New Year's Day Storm 1992 Braer Storm of January 1993 Christmas Eve storm 1997 Boxing Day Storm 1998 Anatol 1999 Lothar and Martin 1999
2000s	Oratia 2000 Jeanett 2002 Gudrun 2005 Per 2007 Kyrill 2007 Emma 2008 Klaus 2009 Xynthia 2010 Berit 2011 Friedhelm/Bawbag 2011 Joachim 2011 Dagmar 2011 Ulli 2011 Andrea 2012 St Jude 2013 Xaver 2013 Dirk 2013 Anne and Christina 2014 Tini 2014 Elon and Felix 2015 Niklas 2015
2015– Name our Storms	2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season 2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season
See also	European windstorm List of European windstorms List of atmospheric pressure records in Europe