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1990 Atlantic winter storms in Europe were a series, or cluster of intense European windstorms during the period between 25 January and 2 March of that year. Western, northern and central Europe experienced eight severe extratropical cyclones with winds exceeding Beaufort force 12.

The tracks of the lows traced from the east coast of North America crossing the Atlantic to Europe before weakening over north or central Europe.

'''The meteorological situation during the winter of 1989/1990 showed some peculiarities. Above the western North Atlantic Ocean and Canada air temperatures in February were considerably lower than average. In contrast, above Northern and Eastern Europe a distinctive higher air temperature was measured. These preconditions resulted in the situation where storm cyclones could develop but not following their usual winter course (Kühnel, 1994).'''

Winter 89/90 was one of the mildest winters of the 20th century in Europe. An extraordinary run of deep depressions, which began in the second week of December 1989, continued almost without break until the second half of March 1990: many reached depths below 950 hPa, and one (December 1989) reached 920 hPa.

'''The overall European winter in 1989/1990 was thus characterized by abnormally powerful cyclones in the North Atlantic region. The windstorm areas of these cyclones hit Europe repeatedly. Air temperatures reached record highs. It was stated that 1989/90 winter was one of the mildest during the 20th Century. For instance in Germany more than +20C were measured in several German regions on the 16th of December while in northern Russia a maximum of + 10C was observed. As a consequence soils were not frozen and thawing resulted in high plasticity (Preuhsler, 1991).'''

Burns Day storm and the 26 February Vivian severe gales which brought the most media attention in the United Kingdom.

Most damaging Daria, Vivian and Wiebke. The most damaging storms were Daria on 25th and 26th January and Vivien and Wiebke from 25th February to 1st March. Total storm damages from the season at €5.5 billion in Germany alone.

Preceding conditions
Winters of 1988/89 and 1989/90 were both exceptional in mildness, with second windy and wet.

December saw 21.7°C on 16 reached in Germany.

storm surge South coast 13 December 89.https://www.surgewatch.org/events/1989-12-13/

16/17 December 89 storm, Bellwin scheme activated on 25 Jan, covered this storm also. 16-18 Dec 1989: a storm, mainly on the coasts of the Channel and the Atlantic, leaves 9 dead or missing in France.

28 October 1989 record wind gust to low level station in England and Wales, 108 knots (124 mph) at Cardiff Airport, Rhoose (Vale of Glamorgan).

'''Europe had experienced stormy weather in the last two months of 1989. Deep lows developed over the Atlantic, and the Atlantic jet stream went further south than is normal for this time of year. At the time, the pressures measured in the mid-Icelandic low and in the mid-Atlantic were the lowest since recording began in 1873.''' reports of mercury spilling mercury as pressure had gone below their range of recording abilities. These conditions were followed by a stormy period lasting for 5 weeks, comprising some 15 different low pressure areas, of which 8 tracked across Europe.

16/17 January very windy with gusts 76 knots at Benbecula and 79 kt at Stornoway. Record january gust of 109 kn at Fair Isle with a mean windspeed of 72 kt.http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/g/n/Jan1990.pdf

Very stormy 5 week period with 15 storm events, 8 passing over Europe following Daria a persisting temperature gradient

jet stream unusually strong and further south than usual. Iceland low more than 30 mb lower than normal (3.5 standard deviations below normal) a record in the documented period since 1873. the lowest pressure anomaly since records began.

Stormy period preceded by abnormally cold conditions in North America, and anomalously high SST south of Newfoundland. which have been shown to be likely to result in extreme cyclogenesis events in the North Atlantic.

'''many sites in southern England recorded their highest ever maximum wind speeds for the months of January and February. For example London (Heathrow) Airport recorded a gust of 76 kn on 25 January (compared with 66 kn in October 1987) and its highest ever maximum wind in February with a gust to 61 kn on the 7th. It was extreme gusts such as these that were largely responsible for the extensive damage and loss of some 80 lives.'''

11 lows underwent Explosive cyclogenesis as they tracked towards Europe.

24 December 1989 very deep low south of iceland estimated at a little below 920 hPa (probably the fourth lowest documented extratropical low pressure in the North Atlantic) List_of_atmospheric_pressure_records_in_Europe

2 January storm explsively deepened from 984 hPa to 946 hPa after forming over the US and crossing the St Lawrence before moving into the Davis Strait. 8 Jan storm down to 939 hPa SE of Cape Farewell, before moving up through the Denmark Strait. mid decade of January saw multiple losmove towards iceland near semi-permanent low over iceland. on 20 Jan 950 hPa storm developed from 2 lows persisited around Iceland until 24 940 hPa low gales south of 50 north.

Burns' Day storm (Daria)
The Burns' Day Storm occurred on 25–26 January 1990 over north-western Europe and is one of the strongest European windstorms on record. This storm has received different names as there is no official list of such events in Europe. It is also known as Daria. Starting on the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns, it caused widespread damage and hurricane-force winds over a wide area. The storm was responsible for 97 deaths across Europe (47 in UK) most damaging storm of its type on record.

'''The cyclone ‘Daria’ heralded the first winter storm in a series of eight disastrous storms. It began as a cold front over the Northern Atlantic Ocean on January 23rd and made landfall in the morning of the 25th of January over Northern Ireland before tracking to Ayrshire in Scotland. There was a low air pressure of 949 hPa estimated to the east of Edinburgh around 4 pm. After hitting the United Kingdom, the storm moved rapidly in easterly direction towards Denmark. In some regions of western Germany gusts reached speeds up to 180 km/h. Wind speeds of 120-130 km/h were measured over large areas. ‘Daria’ was accompanied by strong rains and consequently flooding in some regions. The peak gusts caused extensive damage in monetary terms. The cyclone swept mainly through northwestern Europe and the northern part of Central Europe. The storm is presumed to be the UK’s most expensive weather event for insuring companies to date (BBC news, 20.03.2007).'''

Boscombe Down (near Salisbury), for example, recorded 79 kn, the strongest wind since the station opened in 1933.

In Great Britain some one million households had no power, 320,000 of them for a few days. In France, strong gusts of wind knocked down the chimney of a nuclear power plant.

burns day storm higher number of fatalities is that the worst of the storm occurred during daylight hours, when people were out and about, whereas the 1987 storm peaked during the night.

To the south of Hamburg in Jesteburg a tornado reported.

developed over NA E of New Jersey on 21 Jan under 944 parentl low nr Iceland, early on 25 passed 20 W at 51 N at 973 hPa and merged with parent low. Dropping to 952 hPa by noon as it moved to UK and IE. by midday on 26 January it was over Sweden with a pressure of 960 hPa.

Ongoing storminess
The second storm came just 3 days later, on 28 January, '''small-scale storm low, which moved from the sea area west of Portugal quickly across England to the North Sea and its storm field hit especially the northwest and north of Germany. The peak gusts on 28.01.1990 reached hurricanes in some places, so at the Seewetteramt in Hamburg-St.Pauli with 126 km / h. Numerous other weather stations in the northwest and north of Germany also reported hurricanes inland.''' with 111 km / h in Middelkerke, 98 km / h in Zaventem, and 100 km / h in Beauvechain. In terms of temperatures, there is nothing special to report this day, it is mild without more, with 9 to 10 ° C in low and middle Belgium. The culprit is again a secondary depression, which follows about the same course, but is shallower this time.

gust of 60 kn at Gwennap Head.

~30 jan flag theofano lost w 19 lives off isle of wight.

1 February gales and severe gales over UK with a gust of 81 kn at Lizard Point, Cornwall curl of comma cloud with hook over western Ireland on satellite imagery. Surgewatch media search reports of Flooding in Towyn (Zong and Tooley 2003) 3 weeks before later major flooding there, which they say might be a dating error. " 2 February saw localised effects in Stornoway, with reports of "disasterous" flooding in England on 3 February.

Herta
low 944 in central atl parent low 3–4 February 1990. Herta evolved from a small secondary low over the English Channel causing severe flooding in (southern) England. HERTA primarily affected the German states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse causing serious damage, reaching top speed. from over 150 km / h. Meteofrance rank Herta as being stronger in metropolitan France than Daria. '''The second cyclone in this series was ‘Herta’. ‘Herta’ evolved from a little border cyclone over the British channel and caused serious flooding in England. The air temperature was about +12 C and air pressure 1016 hPa until 4 pm. From 4 pm to 6 pm air pressure declined to 1007 hPa and afterwards increased again to 1020 hPa at 10 pm. Despite these relative marginal changes in air pressure, the wind speeds picked up dramatically and reached gale force by 5 pm decreasing again only 3 hours later. Precipitation during the storm was marginal (about 1 mm). ‘Herta’ reached peak gusts of more than 150 km/h in western Germany (City of Trier) and caused serious damage in the states of Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland. In the Netherlands ‘Herta’ wind speeds were measured with up to 125 km/h (Dorland et al., 1999).'''

'''" Herta " was a small but intense marginal depression that moved from the sea area off Portugal very quickly to the northeast in early February 1990, crossing northern Germany. The storm field hit above all the south and the center of the country, where there were gusts to hurricane strength on 03.02.1990 and in the night to 04.02.1990.'''

Herta's wind field in February 1990 over France was very similar to that of Lothar in 1999. And Lothar struck a severe blow to Greater Paris on 26th December 1999, just as Herta had done on 3rd February 1990. There were also strong similarities in terms of the geographical extent of the two wind fields. The main difference between these two windstorm systems was the wind speed. With peak gusts of around 170 km/h in Paris, Lothar was in fact 30–40% more intense than Herta, which reached about 120–130 km/h.

(Germany) Power lines needed to be decommissioned resulting in disruptions of electric power supply. http://www.meteofrance.fr/documents/10192/21101/tempete-remarquable3.jpg/b155ca26-a32f-4632-935b-2b186dec4dc3?t=1369401036205

'''Despite gusts of wind that generally did not reach the violence of those observed in 1999, the storm of 3 February 1990 was particularly deadly. It is part of a remarkable period which, in the first weeks of 1990, saw many tempestuous events succeeding France.'''

http://tempetes.meteofrance.fr/Herta-le-03-fevrier-1990.html

Herta 6th in terms of percent of surface of France effected 1980-2017

Judith
7–8 February 1990 '''During cyclone ‘Judith’ that affected Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg wind speeds with up to 120 km/h were observed. ‘Judith’ caused economic damages in all concerned countries in equal measures (Münchner Rück, 1999).'''

depression " Judith ", which on 08 February 1990 across the British Isles away in the northeast to southern Scandinavia. Again there were gusts to hurricane strength in many parts of Germany.

Nana
https://meteobelgique.be/article/articles-et-dossiers/81-climats-dhier-et-daujourdhui/1430-il-y-a-20-ans-les-tempetes-de-lhiver-1990.html 11 deaths France.-http://www.annales.org/ri/2002/425/bessemoulin009-14.pdf

11 February a gust of 93 mph recorded at Burrington, Devon and structural damage to many parts of southern England.

Ottilie
13–14 February 1990 '''The cyclones ‘Ottilie’ and ‘Polly’ also included some peak wind speeds. It is worth mentioning that the two storms were accompanied by strong rains (167 mm/24 h in southwestern Germany), thunderstorms, hail, and snow. Consequently, landslides and flooding along rivers (Rhine, Neckar, Mosel) of western Germany occurred.The cyclones ‘Ottilie’ and ‘Polly’ hit Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. They caused flood damage to houses, and affected roads and railway tracks with landslides. Germany reported ten casualties. The total economic damage in Germany amounted to about 150 million Euros half of which was covered by insurance (Münchner Rück, 1999).'''

Polly
14–15 February 1990 Southern Germany, Black Forest and Western Alps snow north of the Main with heavy rains Saar, Moselle, Rhine and Danube flooding.

On 14./15. In February 1990, a storm low moved from the sea area south of Iceland across the North Sea to Poland. On its south side gusts to hurricane strength were registered, especially in the south of Germany.

-- 23 February 1990 high temperatures in northern Europe-just shy of the record high of 18,9° in Sunndalsøra on February 23, 1990.
 * https://dmi.dk/nyheder/2019/tangering-af-29-aar-gammel-varmerekord/
 * https://www.smhi.se/bloggar/vaderleken-2-3336/nytt-svenskt-februarirekord-1.144920

Vivian
Vivian was a European windstorm that affected Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom on 25–28 February 1990. Vivian mainly affected the alpine valleys of Switzerland where 5 million cubic metres of timber were felled by the winds.

more famous in the UK for coastal flooding in Towyn, North Wales.

Most severe on Swiss forestry of the century with gales up to 75 m/s at the Great St Bernard Pass.

Vivian ranks in top 20 costliest insured losses 2017 https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-costliest-insured-losses/?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

In France Vivian is considered the most violent storm between the Great storm of 1987. and Lothar and Martin of 1999.

Meteorological development
Formed as a minor perturbation over New England in a similar manner to Burns day storm on 24 January, in a powerful jet began to deepen to east of Newfoundland. The center of Vivian crossed the north of Scotland and the North Sea while intensifying explosive cyclogenesis. It happened later in Scandinavia, reaching its minimum pressure of 940 hPa just before touching the west coast of Sweden 2, 3. The system has gradually filled subsequently crossing the Baltic Sea. Its trajectory was more north of the storm Daria, a month earlier. The corridor winds was especially wide. Gusts of over 145 km / h also blew south as Northern England, the Belgium, the Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

wind gusts up to 87 knots in Leeds.

secondary lows formed from Vivian of Vivian+ and Wiebke.

The Vivian storm is a meteorological depression to cyclogenesis intense, or "weather bomb" that hit the northwest of Europe from 25 to 27 February 1990. It is one of the worst storms to hit the continent, just three years after the great storm of 1987 and only a month after Daria storm. Vivian was followed by Wiebke storm two days later, it has traveled a path further south particularly affecting Germany.

Third behind Lothar and 1984 in terms of percent area of France. (possibly Vivian I) Finland lowest pressure of 939.7 mb (27.75") on 3/1/1990 (1 March) location unknown. 940.3 as lowest pressure for Vivian centred 20km north of Åland islands.

North Wales coastal flooding (Towyn flood)
North Wales coastal flood, reported in the media as Towyn flood. from Ffynnongroyw in the east to Pensarn in the west.

A combination of gale-force winds, a high tide and rough seas caused Towyn's flood defences to be breached at about 11.00am on 26 February 1990. high tide with a 1.5 metre surge. 4 sqmi of land was flooded, affecting 2,800 properties (6000 residents )and causing areas of the resort to be evacuated. The coastal defences have since been reconstructed and significantly enhanced.

resulted from the simultaneous incidence of three factors: first, a predicted high spring tide of between 4.87 m and 5.07 m above ordnance datum; secondly, a deep depression approaching from the west causing a tidal surge which increased the depth of water approaching the coastline by up to 1.42 m above the predicted level; thirdly, storm to violent storm force winds recorded as 10 to 11 on the Beaufort scale from the north and north-west causing waves up to 6 m high.Colwyn borough council area, where about 5,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Operation Neptune warning which the council received from the police at 08.53 hours council said they did not receive. but they had.http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1990/jul/10/sea-defences-and-flood-damage

catastrophic overtopping and breach of defences followed by widespread inundation at Towyn, Wales.

‘major disaster’

Coastal flooding also occurred in Towyn, North Wales.

Flooding also between Folkestone and Hythe on English Channel coast after a sea wall was breached.

'''During the time period before ‘Vivian’ (before 25th of February) there was almost no precipitation in Germany. Weather conditions were very mild with air temperatures above average and an unusual amount of sun hours. The city of Freiburg in south western Germany measured record temperatures of 22C in February. On 25th February air pressure over the northern North Sea was measured at just 950 hPa. This low air pressure dropped to 940 hPa while the cyclone tracked to north easterly direction. On 26th February the cyclone moved via the North Sea to Scandinavia and evolved rapidly into a winter storm. The windstorm area and its severe impact covered mainly Great Britain and Northern France with Ireland also being affected. Vivian then expanded into larger areas of Central Europe including western Germany, further regions of France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Peak gusts of 180 km/h were measured with an average wind speed of 120 to 140 km/h reported for Germany. In the higher elevations measured wind speeds were even much higher. In the Swiss Alps peak gusts of 268 km/h were recorded, for example at ‘Grosser Sankt Bernhard’ mountain (Z'graggen and Hostettler, 2007). At the Feldberg in the Black Forest (Southwest Germany) peaks of up to 17 Beaufort (>200km/h) were measured (Kronauer, 1990). Compared to Germany and Switzerland wind speeds in the Netherlands were moderate with 95 km/h reported. However, gusts reached up to 150km/h (Dorland et al., 1999). Besides strong winds the storm entailed also heavy precipitation.'''

26 February gusts of 100mph at St Abb's Head (Berwickshire), 99mph Hemsby, Norfolk, 98mph Leeds and 92mph Fylingdales. 11 fatalities.

Wiebke
Wiebke was a severe windstorm in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
 * From 28 February to 1 March 1990
 * In central Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
 * Death toll: 35 persons in Germany, 18 France-http://www.annales.org/ri/2002/425/bessemoulin009-14.pdf

Particularly in mountain regions, a large number of trees were damaged. (Even complete spruce and beech stands/forests). Hundreds of trees were bent or thrown like matches. Extrapolations go of 60 to 70 million cubic meters of extra "cut" wood by the storm, which corresponded to about twice the annual harvesting in Germany.

'''Only a few days after ‘Vivian’, the cyclone ‘Wiebke’ emerged, ending an intense series of winter storms between during the first months of 1990. ‘Wiebke’, developed in the Atlantic Ocean region from a so-called wave disruption. ‘Wiebke’ was a disastrous winter storm during the night from 28th of February to 1st of March 1990. Wiebke mainly hit the southern part of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria with wind speeds between 130-200 km/h. For example, at ‘Jungfraujoch’ mountain in Switzerland, peak gusts reached up to 285 km/h (Stringfellow, 2008). At the ‘Feldberg’ (Black Forest) in Southwest Germany peak gusts were also above 200 km/h. In the Netherlands ‘Wiebke’ produced gust 62 speeds of 125km/h at their highest level (Dorland et al., 1999). ‘Wiebke’ was accompanied by heavy precipitation in form of rain and snow.'''

Aftermath
'''Storm damages are often insured allowing for estimates of the economic loss potential based on insurance data. According to Münchner Rück (1999), ‘Daria’, ‘Vivian’ and ‘Wiebke’ each caused economic damage of about two billion D-mark (approx. 1 billion Euro) in Germany. 50 percent of these damages were insured (Münchner Rück 1999). The damage for the whole of Europe was determined at 25 billion D-mark (12.5 billion Euro) whereas about 17.3 billion D-mark (approx 7.6 billion Euro) were covered by insurance (values as of 1990) (MünchnerRück, 1999). In Germany 64 people lost their lives due to the winter storms ‘Daria’, ‘Herta’, ‘Vivian’ and ‘Wiebke’. ‘Wiebke’ alone caused 24 fatal accidents in Germany (Münchner Rück, 1999). In the Netherland there were 17 casualties from ‘Daria’ (KNMI, 1990).'''

Vivian in Germany 15 casualties were reported. Across Europe there were 64 fatalities was summed (Swiss Re, 2002).

Total casualties for the 1990 storm series is 272.-Münchner Rück, 2001. Be 15, De 64, Fr 66, Uk 85, Nl 21, Ch 4, At 3.

left more than a million houses damaged.http://www.brebookshop.com/details.jsp?id=544

Winter overview
1990 Season '''In contrast, the damaging windstorms of early 1990 were immature systems at landfall, with much potential to cause damage on land (Figure 2). Their tracks were generally farther south and the storms were still intensifying when they hit land (reaching their nadir points well to the east of landfall).'''

stormfloods in January and February 1990 affected Jutland west coast.

high AO-https://twitter.com/NWSCPC/status/1226866908479160323

Context
http://bibliotheque.meteo.fr/exl-php/docs/mf_-_internet_bibliotheque_numerique_-_publications_de_meteo-france/235706/doc00025310__PDF.txt

for historical return periods estimations differ between computer models with estimates for example between 40 to 65 years for the 1990 series. *check precis*

other years 2013-14, 2015-16

December 1999, January 2007

User:Lacunae/29

for rainfall 2 month total Jan-Feb in UK ranks fifth behind Nov-Dec 1929, Dec-Jan 2015-16, Dec-Jan 2013-14 and Oct-Nov 2000 3 month Dec-Feb 1989-90 ranks 8 between 1910 and 2015. December of 2015 is the only month to outrank Feb 1990 for rainfall maximum.