User:Lacunae/29

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/featured-images/winter-2013-14-already-tops-2012-13-number-hurricane-force-storms

2013–2014 Atlantic winter storms in Europe

Seasonal forecasts
http://notrickszone.com/2013/09/09/meteorologists-point-to-signs-of-another-upcoming-nasty-winter-for-europe-would-be-spectacular-sixth-in-a-row/#sthash.aKrVY4dG.dpbs

Autumn
Prior to the St. Jude Storm, Sweden had seen the longest "storm free" period at 594 days (except in exposed mountain locations).

MWLSept-Dec2013

Nordic Storms 2013
http://www.keraunos.org/actualites/fil-infos/2013/decembre/decembre-2013-premiere-decade-tres-stable-record-pas-d-orages.html http://www.smhi.se/nyhetsarkiv/var-2013-ett-blasigt-ar-1.35775 http://www.smhi.se/nyhetsarkiv/2013-varmt-ar-trots-sen-var-1.35158?search=yes&month=12&year=2013 http://www.smhi.se/nyhetsarkiv/novembervadret-2013-tat-lagtryckstrafik-1.34544?search=yes&month=11&year=2013 http://www.smhi.se/nyhetsarkiv/hosten-2013-mild-och-mest-torr-1.34419?search=yes&month=11&year=2013 1-15

Meteorological history
mid december strong jet stream 18 december Bernd in central Atlantic 950 hPa, low Bernd to north of Ireland on 19. Occluded front from low passed over UK France. occlusion split with Paris. following bernd began to fill moving north out of FUB area.

explosive cyclogenesis

Impact
An area of low pressure from the Atlantic brought wind gusts to the west of Ireland of 133 km/h causing power outages to 22,000 homes, and widespread disruption.

144 km/h at Mace Head Ireland, 176 km/h Bealach na ba Scotland, 173 km/h Aonach Mòr, Scotland, 137 km/h Plymouth, England, 122 km/h Pointe du Raz, Brittany. 133 km/h Camaret, Brittany. Met office low level gusts.

900 homes in the Neath Valley were without power for a time in South Wales, In Northern Ireland, 10,000 homes lost power as gale force winds damaged the network In the Republic of Ireland, 7,000 households lost electricity as the storm hit Around 1200 homes in Cumbria and Lancashire were without power after overhead lines fell

Eight people were injured with one fatality reported in the country (Ireland), a woman was killed in Ireland when a tree fell onto her car near Mullingar, County Westmeath. Coastal flooding in Salthill near Galway, Ireland. Kilmallock County Limerick roof came off a building damaging car and injuring 3 people. In Newry Northern Ireland minor structural damage to homes.

The low also brought strong winds across Scotland and areas of England where one person was reported missing after falling from the cargo ship MV Sea Melody into the river Trent at Grove Wharf near Flixborough, North Lincolnshire.

Flood warnings were also raised across Scotland and Southwest England.

Transport disruption across Scotland, ferry delays on 18 December Shetland.http://www.shetnews.co.uk/newsbites/7765-more-ferry-delays CrossCountry and South West Trains delays, Arriva trains wales and first capital connect.

Parts of Cork Kent railway station roof collapse injuring a woman, as fronts pass through. €2.8 million allocated for roof repairs at the station by Iarnród Éireann from the government.

Heavy rain flooding to South Wales, Somerset and Devon.-http://www.reactionsnet.com/RMSArticle/3291370/Windstorm-Bernd.html 38.4mm Tredegar Gwent, MO rainfall totals...

The Championship match between Wigan and Sheffield Wednesday was abandoned mid-game from waterlogged pitch and persistent rain. A hail storm interrupted the Stoke City versus Manchester United game in the League Cup.

Dirk (23-24 December)
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetterpate/Lebensgeschichten/Tief_DIRK_22_12_13.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/12/20/wicked-storm-may-threaten-united-kingdom-approaching-christmas-eve/ 924 hPa-http://actualite.lachainemeteo.com/actualite-meteo/2013-12-25-16h15/nouveau-coup-de-vent-vendredi-23646.php 228 km/h Iraty -http://actualite.lachainemeteo.com/actualite-meteo/2013-12-26-12h33/bilan-de-la-tempete-dirk---jusqu-a-228-km-h-en-france-23643.php

http://www.euronews.com/2013/12/25/tales-of-lucky-escapes-amid-europe-s-storm-and-wind-damage/ http://www.euronews.com/2013/12/27/bad-weather-puts-a-damper-on-christmas-in-south-of-uk/ http://www.angers.maville.com/actu/actudet_-tempete-dirk-20-000-foyers-toujours-sans-electricite-en-france_fil-2457696_actu.Htm

potentially the fourth in history to pass under 930.

927 hPa http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/ncep-charts/hires/20131224/gdas.sfc.mslp.thk.nh.anl.12.20131224.gif SRRS Analysis and Forecast Charts Requested Links Chart Type: No Hemp Surface Analysis Dates Selected: 12/24/2013 to 12/25/2013 ncep-charts/hires/20131224/gdas.sfc.mslp.thk.nh.anl.00.20131224.gif ncep-charts/hires/20131225/gdas.sfc.mslp.thk.nh.anl.00.20131225.gif ncep-charts/hires/20131224/gdas.sfc.mslp.thk.nh.anl.12.20131224.gif ncep-charts/hires/20131225/gdas.sfc.mslp.thk.nh.anl.12.20131225.gif

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=228#commenttop

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/news/2013/dec/travel-update-monday-23-and-tuesday-24-december/ http://www.networkrail.co.uk/timetables-and-travel/delays-explained/high-winds/

Criticism of power companies, Yalding Kent, delays in reconnecting power. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/public-anger-grows-at-energy-companies-handling-of-christmas-power-cuts-crisis-9027552.html substation in flood img -http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3789878 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-25547326

In the Netherlands damage to Philips Stadium Endhoven, cladding panels blown off in wind. Breda roof blown off, damages around Brabant nl -http://www.omroepbrabant.nl/?news/204323542/Storm+houdt+huis+in+Brabant,+dak+waait+van+flat+De+Windvanger+op+geparkeerde+auto%E2%80%99s+in+Breda.aspx

The AA said that on Christmas Eve it rescued 603 cars deep in floodwater, often after motorists failed to heed warnings.-http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/30/home-insurance-claims-fall-weather http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/12/20/wicked-storm-may-threaten-united-kingdom-approaching-christmas-eve/ http://www.ouest-france.fr/tempete-dirk-le-pic-se-situe-entre-21-h-et-3-h-1815060 http://www.english.rfi.fr/visiting-france/20131225-storm-spoils-christmas-thousands-french-families

http://www.weathercast.co.uk/weather-news/news/ch/fa4ba773bfffcbcf3c58da1f07b404ec/article/christmas_storms.html

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/08/emergency-blackout-helpline-christmas-storms

Total number of homes range between ...460,000 (of which 75,000 powerless for 24hrs or more) ...300,000 cut off at some point over the holidays. SE worst hit N Wales and Cumbria also severely affected. 1200 homes flooded In total more than 150,000 homes had their power cut by the storm in the UK, with 50,000 homes without power for 5 days.

A recent example of the impact of severe weather was between 22 and 28 December 2013 when, as a result of two severe winter storms and consequent damage to the distribution overhead line network, almost 1 million properties suffered disruption to electricity supplies in the UK. Though 876,000 customers were restored within 24 hours, 16,000 customers experienced disruption to supply in excess of 48 hours.-https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/419549/20150331_2015-NRR-WA_Final.pdf

http://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/web/de/meteoschweiz/medien/medienmitteilungen/weihnachtswetterbilanz.html

Winter flooding of 2013–14 on the Somerset Levels

'''The Met Office at Boscombe Down, Salisbury Plain, recorded 66.7mm of rain in the 24 hours 9am 23 December to 9am 24 December. This is provisionally a new all time daily record in any month for the station – records going back to January 1931. The previous record was 62.3mm on 16 August 1977.'''

Erich (26-27 December)
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetterpate/Lebensgeschichten/Tief_ERICH_25_12_13.htm December 25, 2013–January 1, 2014. 944 hPa.

Stormy weather is expected to hit later today after Met Éireann issued a severe weather warning for the whole country. The most severe weather warning - code red - has been issued for counties Clare, Galway, Kerry, Mayo, Waterford and Wexford.-http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1226/494759-met-eireann-storms/ http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1227/494857-weather/ Met O Amber warning of wind in north west, north east, north wales, southern sco

In Dublin firefighters called to make safe advertising sign on a building near O'Connell Bridge in high winds.

About 4,000 customers in Northern Ireland lost electricity after severe gales of the night of 26–27 December 2013. In Northern Ireland two pensioners house set on fire after electricity pole brought down in strong winds. Except at altitude, only the most exposed locations in Pas de Calais, Brittany and Loire Atlantique recorded gusts over 100 km/h. Weakened powergrid after the passage of Dirk, Erich brought further damage and saw 2000 homes without power in Brittany. Ireland saw gusts on the coast reach 130 km/h leaving 70,000 homes without electricity on the morning of 27 December. 28,000 homes across Wales and Scotland were without power during the storm which brought further flooding to these areas.

In London Regent Street closed as firefighters secured dangerous Christmas decorations.

In France Erich isobars effects incommensurate with those of Cyclone Dirk.

Erich caused further flooding in western Hainault Belgium in the region of Ath, Frasnes-lez-Anvaing, Beloeil and Bernissart.

M62 ouse bridge closed to high sided vehicles restrictions on the Humber bridge delays of 1 hours East Coast north of Grantham Gatwick Express

Network Rail, rain flooding, landslips 2 or 3 large slips

First Capital Connect no trains on Boxing day.

Power cut compensation ofgem 24 hours continuously then 24 for every 12 hours after capped at £200, payable from local Distribution network operator energy network in area not the supplier.

power cuts after Erich -http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Power-companies-criticised-flood-response/story-20372723-detail/story.html almost triple compensation-http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/28/christmas-storms-power-company-boost-compensation-weather 663 Kent, 97 surrey, 326 Sussex still w/out power 28th The line from London to Portsmouth via Haslemere is blocked by four landslips near Liphook, and will stay closed over the weekend. The track at Ockley, between Horsham and Dorking, is also closed after a serious landslip.

accused of poor communication, industry responded by saying health and safety issues in flooded areas with reconnecting power supplies to customers.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25537098

http://naturaldisastersnews.net/disaster-news/natural-disasters-events-archive-of-all-natural-disasters-news/windstorms/1882-2013-12-26-27-windstorm-erich-affects-ireland-and-uk#.UsL4svlta-4

Felix & Gerhard
stormy period between Christmas and new year, Weather fronts associated with the low Felix and passed over the UK (December 30), which brought further rainfall and some stormy conditions. (Bridlington, Orange alert in southern Scotland.) and fronts associated with, and further rainfall.

Felix low was more remote from European mainland, brought strong tightening of isobars across NW France, winds of 141 km/h to Camaret sur Mer in Brittany. Low near Iceland brought winds up to 140 km/h to that country, heavy rainfall disrupted traffic and brought more flooding to the United Kingdom. At Croyde Bay in north Devon a woman was rescued from sea who later died on 31 December. 27 year old man swept out to sea on Loe Bar Porthleven Cornwall New Year's Eve

1 January man found dead on the banks of River Torridge in Bideford, Devon.

Holiday period, several new year swimming events cancelled.

Gerhard January 1

Harry Martin last seen 2 January Membland near Newton Ferrers South Devon coast walking to coastal path.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-25548920 http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/29/gales-heavy-rain-christmas-weather-forecast

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-25553048 http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/30/uk-braced-further-floods-storms-weather http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-12-30/uk-storm-flood-weather-rain-wind/ http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/weather-seven-airlifted-to-safety-in-borders-1-3250719

Felix II fronts and Gerhard devon floods http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-25567237 1st Jan http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-25566391 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10545706/Two-people-feared-drowned-in-New-Year-sea-tragedies.html

http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mcga07-home/newsandpublications/press-releases.htm

2 jan man found

2 Jan Cobra Meeting Owen Patterson Defra. Env minister said country was as ready as could be. said local councils, env agency Minister warns power companies to be on alert.

river towy in already full on 2 Jan. Env Agency 12 severe flood warnings in place, urging public to stay away from the coastal paths. to peak 3am Scilly then make way along south coast.

http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetterpate/Lebensgeschichten/Tief_FELIX_28_12_13.htm http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetterpate/Lebensgeschichten/Tief_GERHARD_31_12_13.htm

2 January emergency services called to Cork after an '''Aircraft declared an Emergency following 2 failed attempts to land in strong winds. The Aircraft had 50 people on board landed safely on its 3rd attempt and no injuries were reported. A number of flights where diverted to other Airports due to the conditions at Cork.''' 1st flooding of winter in Cork 2/3 January night

December
Stormiest in a record series which goes back to 1969, and windiest since 1993. Wettest December and wettest month overall in Scotland with records going back to 1910. Kent and Sussex received more than double their monthly average rainfall, large areas of Scotland more than average, Dumbartonshire Scotland also twice average.

with map of average December air pressure over Europe-http://www.smhi.se/klimatdata/Manadens-vader-och-vatten/Varlden/december-2013-rejalt-kallt-i-nordamerika-men-rekordmilt-i-ryssland-1.35177?search=yes&month=1&year=2014 wettest Christmas since records began 1884 in parts of south Sweden -http://www.smhi.se/nyhetsarkiv/dramatiskt-julvader-i-sverige-och-ovriga-europa-1.35142?search=yes&month=12&year=2013 December 2013 saw 14 separate instances of hurricane force winds over the North Atlantic, 10 examples of explosive cyclogenesis, The Dirk storm deepened to 929 hPa and 5 low pressure centres dropped below 950 hPa. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2013/december

Norway wet dec -http://met.no/Tropevarme+i+mai+og+sommer+i+september.b7C_xdjM5v.ips

January
http://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/201408/northatlantic.shtml

Anne (3 Jan)
MWL Jan-Apr2014

January 1–6, 2014. 945 hPa. Anne was a winter storm that affected western Europe bringing storm surges along the coasts of France and the United Kingdom on high spring tides a month after Cyclone Xaver brought surges during the previous peak tides to northern Europe.

January 1–6, 2014. 945 hPa. not exceptional weather wise, normal winter storm but after a succession of storms-nothing worse, even less severe than Dirk. 950 mb expected 60-70 mph gusts high spring tide and low pressure and water coming down river systems Devon and Cornwall http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-25591129 -strong westerly air flow over Celtic Sea on 2 January along which Anne low moved, remains of Gerhard and Felix lows to north of Scotland.

rain on Saturday high tides and warnings for west and southern coasts of England and Wales. Highest tide of year, storm waves,

Environment agency advised those close to the coast to consider moving out http://www.geograph.org.uk/snippet/10206 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3800453 Barnstaple park flooded. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3800099 crashing waves Newcastle norn iron http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3800653 Stour river flood http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3800659 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3800725 stour mill http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3800775 same http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3800961 Heysham

Mechelen be http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/videozone_ENG/140104_mechelen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-25634199

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/258895-storm-surge-brings-high-winds-and-downpour-causing-travel-disruption/

Christina (6 Jan)
January 3–10, 2014. 940 hPa. An area of low pressure responsible for a winter storm in the USA and Canada moved over the Atlantic and was named Christina by the Free University Berlin on January 3. Described by scientists at the British Natural Environment Research Council as a 1 in 5 year to 1 in 10 year weather event.

18-19 January 2014
---

storms in Mediterranean basin often influenced and formed in response to those in Atlantic, winter half-year saw several periods of severe weather... --
 * 2013 Sardinia floods
 * Slovenia ice storm-http://www.theweatherclub.org.uk/twc_news52014.pdf
 * Storms to areas of Alpine and Southern Europe January into February Floods on French Riviera, intense rainfalls for winter months, originated from low pressure Helga quasi-stationary and sustained southerly flow from North Africa of humid air. 2 dead, death in Italy
 * (18 feb Slovenia http://ercportal.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ERCMaps/ECDM_20140218_Slovenia_SevereWeatherAssistance.pdf)
 * Low Mayla (contemporary with Nadja late Jan-Early feb) over Mediterranean on east side of low directed warm and humid air to north where it met the southern Alps, orographic uplift brought intense precipitation. Flooding and fatalities in Italy, heavy snowfall from Switzerland to Serbia Košava wind caused snowdrifts 5-6m high according to the Serbian Government the worst in 50 years. An ice storm in Slovenia power problems.. 48 hour snowfalls in Austria statistically likely to return once in 75-100 years.

Major floods in south west France 23-26 saw heavy orographic rains on the northern Pyrenees, with 105 mm in Tarbes (65), 131 mm Ger (64) and 224 mm in Aulus-les-Bains ( 09). flooding of many rivers, mudslides and landslides, high water propagated down the rivers into Aquitaine.

25-26 January 2014
25 January saw a front moving south-east over the UK, heavy showers formed a squall line according to the British Met Office. moved on across the continent (Belgium) described as a winter Derecho http://www.keraunos.org/actualites/faits-marquants/2014/derecho-europe-25-janvier-2014-grande-bretagne-france-belgique-angleterre.html http://www.belgorage.com/actualites-belgorage-2014-01-25-a.php

On 24 January Sedgemoor District Council in Somerset declared a "major incident" in flooded areas as forecasters warned of more rain. Trees were uprooted and structural damaged was caused to buildings by lightning in the Midlands region. There was also a report of a mini-tornado that touched in Sussex and went though Kent before dissipating.

fronts of Kaat 25 January squall line http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/saturdays-squally-weather-and-reports-of-tornadoes/

Croydon crane snap struck lightning http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3826193

Tornado reports in continent at Halluin.http://www.meteo-paris.com/actualites/orages-sur-le-nord-pas-de-calais-possible-tornade-a-halluin-26-janvier-2014.html http://www.keraunos.org/actualites/fil-infos/2014/janvier/ligne-de-grain-venteuse-sur-le-nord-pas-de-calais-le-25-janvier-rafales-de-vent.html?PHPSESSID=vt2ojh7r8o4d4gja347chjgf41 http://www.keraunos.org/actualites/fil-infos/2014/janvier/tornade-confirmee-france-belgique-halluin-25-janvier-2014-nord.html

Une ligne de grain tempétueuse touche le Nord-Pas-De-Calais et la Picardie 2014-01-25 http://www.meteo-paris.com/actualites/orages-sur-le-nord-pas-de-calais-possible-tornade-a-halluin-26-janvier-2014.html http://www.meteo-paris.com/chronique/annee/2014_1

Une ligne de grains très active descendue du centre de l'Angleterre vers le Benelux a touché une partie de la Picardie et du Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Lilli Irish record wave height 26 Jan http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=237 and http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/major-storm-to-hit-the-uk-and/22352943

January overview
http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/clim-2014-Jan.pdf http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2014/january http://rgsweather.com/2014/01/31/recent-storms-genuine-rotation-or-media-spin/ The stormy repeated depressions of the early 2014 year favoured polar air detachments altitude by conflict with our low particularly mild layers, triggered a strong instability in France, only 1988 was more unstable in the postwar period (WWII?). http://www.keraunos.org/actualites/fil-infos/2014/fevrier/2014-un-debut-d-annee-tres-instable-orages-tempetes-france-hiver.html

wettest in southern England since records began in 1910. some areasin UK saw 3 times the average expected amount of rain for January, with...

Parts of Northern Norway experienced the driest January for more than 100 years. January brought forset fires to Norway, following wet period in November 2013, when the jet stream steering low pressures across Scandinavia. Omega high blocking atlantic flow across the country, but stalling low pressure systems to the west of the United Kingdom and Ireland. and bringing southerly flow to the South of Norway with Østlandet, Sørlandet and Rogaland seeing three times the usual precipitation for January. Block also low levels of precipitation to central Finland, where January began mild, but became intensely cold with formation of block, with lowest temps since 2012. Block and cold were swept away, only establishing it's self for the last 20 days of January, returning mild temperatures to this region of Europe once again for February. 19 jan Block cold record in swe.-http://www.svt.se/nyheter/sverige/nytt-kolrekord-i-morse

Blocking high over Scandinavia and low pressures to West of UK and Ireland, flow from south to Central Europe, bringing warm weather, and initiating Fohn, with moisture laden winds up from the Mediterranean which brought floods to Southern France and Italy and Switzerland due to orographic precipitation. Alpine front.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=245 France, Italy, Balkans flooding.http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/deadly-flooding-strikes-france-1/22304578 and http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/flooding-rainfall-for-france-a/22152929



SMHI warm January http://www.smhi.se/klimatdata/Manadens-vader-och-vatten/Varlden/januari-2014-mildluften-dominerade-med-nagra-undantag-1.35717 http://www.smhi.se/klimatdata/Manadens-vader-och-vatten/Sverige/Manadens-vader-i-Sverige/januari-2014-kall-och-torr-i-norr-1.35258

http://www.rms.com/Catastrophe/Catupdates/CatSummary?event_id=4064 http://www.weathercast.co.uk/weather-news/news/ch/80bb41c34d87543b2459b2ead6aa294a/article/stormy_conditions_in_france.html

Storms in France during January estimated to cost insurers between 150 and 200 million euros according to Axa France, ehe French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA) has not yet published its estimate.

France storm surge refs Xynthia (28/02/2011), Quinten (9-10/02/2009) Johanna (10/03/2008) Lothar and Martin (26-28/01/1999).http://refmar.shom.fr/fr/sea_level_news_2014/2014_t1/comparaison-des-effets-de-la-depression-de-ce-debut-d-annee-sur-le-niveau-marin-avec-d-autres-evenements-extremes

early jan temps Nth Hemisphere http://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/polar-vortex-brings-cold-here-and-there-not-everywhere

Nadja (1-2 February)
Nadja (Brigid) – January 29–February 5, 2014. 945 hPa.

Nadja formed at the end of January to the south of Iceland had deepened to a central pressure of 945 hPa, on 1 February at noon over Northern Ireland, where it then weakened considerably.

Coastal flooding and damaging seas from Scotland to Spain, reports of a missing teenager in northern Spain and woman washed away on the south coast of the UK. formed 29 January, dissipated February 5th http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/weather-alert-goes-national-clare-cork-and-dublin-prepare-flood-defences-621259.html '''Leon Brown, forecaster for The Weather Channel, said heavy rain will set in on Friday before the entire country is lashed by fierce gales, torrential rain and thunderstorms at the weekend. He said: “This is potentially a very significant weather system. We will be calling this Storm Brigid, since it will hit Ireland first on February 1 [St Brigid’s Feast Day in Ireland].'''-http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/456709/Vicious-48-hour-Storm-Brigid-to-bring-new-chaos-to-the-UK and http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/456975/Storm-Brigid-rages-towards-Britain-bringing-150MPH-KILLER-winds-heavy-rain-and-SNOW

France http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2014/01/31/intemperies-grandes-marees-en-vue-a-l-ouest_4357551_3244.html http://www.sudouest.fr/2014/02/02/digue-emportee-au-cap-ferret-le-point-en-images-1449037-3246.php Cap Ferret http://www.sudouest.fr/2014/02/01/en-direct-inondations-et-fortes-marees-dans-le-sud-ouest-un-samedi-a-risque-1448520-2780.php http://www.sudouest.fr/2014/02/01/en-direct-inondations-et-fortes-marees-dans-le-sud-ouest-un-samedi-a-risque-1448520-2780.php

powerful waves, and elevated sea levels during period of high astronomical tides. In Brittany 2 fishermen and two kayakers had to be rescued. the Île de Sein off the Breton coast was left without power and the ferry terminal damaged.

explosive cyclogenesis.http://blogs.diariosur.es/tormentas-y-rayos/2014/01/31/la-ciclogenesis-explosiva-se-dirige-a-las-islas-britanicas-prevision-del-tiempo-fin-de-semana/ and http://www.elcorreogallego.es/galicia/ecg/fuerte-ciclogenesis-azotara-costa-gallega-olas-10-metros/idEdicion-2014-01-31/idNoticia-850274/ http://www.tiempo.com/ram/38941/un-experto-te-explica-el-concepto-de-ciclogenesis-explosiva/

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3833138

upgraded http://www.thejournal.ie/storm-orange-alert-2-1292382-Jan2014/ flooding Galway-http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0201/501557-weather/ Galway Cork Limerick-http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/flood-warnings-as-storm-to-wreak-havoc-29969830.html http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/storm-brigid-brings-more-weather-woes-621420.html 4000 without power http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/storm-warning-maintained-as-winds-batter-country-1.1676520 Army Limerick-http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/army-called-in-as-limerick-faces-unprecedented-floods-1.1676582 http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/families-evacuated-as-storm-brigid-wreaks-havoc-around-country-29969830.html http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/some-flooded-limerick-homes-to-be-rebuilt-on-higher-ground-1.1685108 Cape Elise cargo ship drifting SW Ireland

fishing quay walls Les Sables-d'Olonne http://www.lejournaldessables.fr/2014/01/31/danger-sur-le-port-de-peche-40-metres-prets-a-tomber-a-leau/ France-http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2014/01/31/01016-20140131ARTFIG00280-intemperies-le-finistere-en-alerte-rouge-la-cote-sud-ouest-en-alerte-orange.php

red coastal alert Galicia and Asturias, Cantabria and Basque orange.http://floodlist.com/europe/storms-flood-northern-spain

Natural resources Wales -http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/our-work/news/flood-forecast-statement-31-01-1/?lang=en#.UuzUovl_tcE

SEPA -http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/news/2014/flooding_situation_-_1630.aspx over quay walls stornoway, no house flooding -http://uhi-mahara.co.uk/user/view.php?id=111 http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/scotland-s-weather-flood-warnings-for-some-parts-1-3290144

Le Sillon http://www.westbriton.co.uk/French-fishermen-rescued-stricken-boat-north/story-20545376-detail/story.html List_of_shipwrecks_of_Cornwall 6 rescued, ship wrecked.

Newgale Wales bus http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26013343 A woman aged 67 died after being swept out to sea near the mouth of the River Arun at Littlehampton Pier, West Sussex.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10613389/UK-floods-We-can-protect-towns-or-country-not-both-says-Environment-Agency-boss.html

flooded Cornwall-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26017569

Hercules II black swell http://magicseaweed.com/news/atlantic-bomb-storm/6031/

http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/03/watch-spectacular-waves-crash-on-european-atlantic-coast-after-stormy-weekend/

http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Perranporth-battered-8220-apocalyptic-8221-storm/story-20549698-detail/story.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-25938390 http://www.independent.ie/videos/irish-news/clean-up-of-storm-brigid-to-cost-millions-29972492.html clontarf flood, http://www.independent.ie/videos/have-you-seen/man-swims-along-oliver-plunkett-street-29974437.html http://www.independent.ie/videos/irish-news/further-flooding-in-clontarf-as-storm-brigid-wreaks-havoc-29970968.html http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/31/heavy-rain-wild-weather-southern-england-wales

San Sebastian spain bridges structurally damaged one fatality -http://video.xin.msn.com/watch/video/storm-surge-smashes-san-sebastian/2whjmqqy7?preview=true&cpkey=4a79fe13-d3f2-45f7-9abb-50dea3a6210d%257c%257c%257c%257c http://www.lne.es/asturias/2014/02/03/temporal-destroza-costa-asturiana-ceba/1537212.html http://www.cuatro.com/noticias/espana/ciclogenesis-temporal-oleaje-vientos-Espana_2_1743030158.html http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2048275/0/temporal/norte-espana/viento-lluvia-nieve/ http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/02/02/actualidad/1391345317_429573.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-26031497 http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/generator/DWDWWW/Content/Oeffentlichkeit/KU/KU2/KU24/besondere__ereignisse__global/Wellen/201402__sturmflut__westeuropa,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.pdf/201402_sturmflut_westeuropa.pdf http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/atlantik-sturmflut-trifft-kuestenorte-in-frankreich-und-spanien-a-950659.html http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/02/02/inenglish/1391372816_257643.html http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/02/04/actualidad/1391531931_466850.html http://www.thelocal.es/20140203/teenager-missing-as-fierce-seas-lash-spain

http://connexionfrance.com/Finistere-red-flood-alert-storms-Atlantic-15415-view-article.html http://connexionfrance.com/Atlantic-coast-waves-natural-disaster-%20flooding-15420-view-article.html http://www.sudouest.fr/2014/02/01/en-direct-inondations-et-fortes-marees-dans-le-sud-ouest-un-samedi-a-risque-1448520-2780.php http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/storms-batter-north-coast-of-spain-16000.html

http://www.thelocal.es/20140205/in-pictures-tidal-waves-crush-spains-northern-coast

Luarca "giant squid museum" Cepesma, has been badly damaged, then broken into and vandalised.-http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/amarina/2014/02/12/vandalos-destrozan-tercera-vez-roban-museo-calamar-gigante/0003_201402X12C3998.htm http://pordescargadirecta.com/showthread.php?t=776577 In San Sebastián water up to 1.5 m deep in the Streets. In the fishing port of Bermeo, near Bilbao (Basque Country) three vessels were sunk. In Hendaye, in southern France, the force of the waves brought a 100m long flood wall to collapse. In the coastal resorts of Douarnenez and Roscoff in west and northern Brittany the waves destroyed the glass fronts of several buildings.

highest equinoctial spring tide Avonmouth 2 February 2014, 8th highest 2008-2016...etc...

Petra (5 Feb)
formed 3 Feb dissipated 8 feb 3 Feb 2014- http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/wind-gusts-and-rainfall-totals-4-5th-february-2014/

Described by NERC as the most damaging to strike Devon and Cornwall in 50 years.

Winds of 92 mph were recorded in the Isles of Scilly and 91 mph at Berry Head, Devon. In France the highest winds were measured at Iraty, French Pyrenees 186 km/h at 1427 metres altitude, and at Camaret, Brittany 156 km/h.

February 3–8, 2014. Another coastal event with high seas washing away the railway line at Dawlish, Devon closing the Exeter to Plymouth line along the South Devon Railway sea wall. Quarter of a million tons washed away from Chesil Beach 5 Feb.

Coastal flooding and high waves from Ireland to Spain, with Cork flooded again. The Cargo ship Luno is washed ashore and breaks in two near Bayonne, France raising fears of a pollution incident, the Polmar Plan (French maritime pollution pol-mar triggered)

http://entertainment.ie/wtf/Oh-for-fliuch-sake-Even-MORE-rain-headed-for-Ireland-with-another-Met-Eireann-warning/240545.htm http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Harbour-wall-Lamorna-swept-away/story-20564977-detail/story.html

15,000 without power http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26042112 http://www.ouest-france.fr/tempete-petra-vents-et-vagues-neuf-departements-en-alerte-orange-1904910 http://www.francetvinfo.fr/france/direct-nouvel-avis-de-tempete-sur-la-bretagne_521913.html http://www.thelocal.fr/20140204/brittany-set-for-to-be-hit-by-yet-more-storms

25,000 without electric in Brittany-http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2014/02/04/une-tempete-menace-9-departements-de-la-cote-atlantique_4360156_3244.html http://www.ouest-france.fr/tempete-petra-les-images-des-degats-dans-le-finistere-1907862 http://www.ouest-france.fr/saint-pierre-quiberon-listhme-la-digue-sest-cassee-1907905 http://www.english.rfi.fr/visiting-france/20140205-freighter-cut-two-storms-hit-west-france http://www.connexionfrance.com/Homes-power-Petra-storm-Brittany-ferries-15429-view-article.html

http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_jerseynews/displayarticle.asp?id=509443 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-26063976

winds in Brittany of 156 km/h at Camaret and 150 km/h at Ouessant. In the mountains 186 km/h at Iraty in Pyrenees, and 152 km/h at Mont Aigoual in the Massif Central. In [[Brest a barge sank in the harbour, while a pontoon with 15 boats attached broke loose at Port du Notic, Camaret. Catamaran ripped from its mooring and washed up on beach during the storm in Royan on the Gironde estuary.

max 20,000 without electric ireland-http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0205/502316-weather/ http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/cork-city-and-towns-hit-by-heavy-flooding-621770.html http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/clean-up-begins-after-country-battered-by-storm-1.1680170 http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gale-force-winds-of-up-to-90kmh-and-heavy-downpours-to-continue-throughout-today-29980516.html http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/kenny-unveils-15m-emergency-fund-29980528.html http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/paul-melia-engineers-not-politicians-should-decide-how-flood-money-spent-29980522.html http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/national-emergency-group-warns-all-main-rivers-in-danger-of-bursting-banks-1.1680914 http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/government-urged-to-speed-up-flood-relief-work-for-cork-city-1.1681017

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26061795 2 piers http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26060304 Porthleven boat damage http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26065858

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-weather-thousands-of-homes-left-without-power-as-southwest-takes-a-pasting-from-storm-9108407.html http://www.thelocal.es/20140205/filipino-sailors-rescued-as-storms-batter-spains-coast

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/02/04/actualidad/1391499266_453397.html http://www.aemet.es/documentos_d/enportada/p52tesp1.pdf http://www.thelocal.es/20140205/in-pictures-tidal-waves-crush-spains-northern-coast http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/galicia/2014/02/04/petra-amaina-tras-dejar-vientos-153-kmhora-provocar-300-incidencias/00031391509287397810276.htm http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/06/more-bad-weather-forecast-as-western-europe-coastlines-assess-storm-damage/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10618620/Weather-thousands-without-power-as-storms-add-to-flood-misery.html http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/05/uk-storms-live-updates http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/wind-gusts-and-rainfall-totals-4-5th-february-2014/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26064424 http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/exceptional-period-Winter-rainfall-240-years/story-20576813-detail/story.html#axzz2sd8mXyHR http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/14877

http://ercportal.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ERCMaps/ECDM_20140204_Europe_SevereWeather.pdf

record wave that wasn't -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-26064998 -http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/weathermatrix/big-waves-in-united-kingdom-but-no-75footer/23045604 but there was http://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/19-meter-wave-sets-new-record '''The WMO Commission for Climatology’s Extremes Evaluation Committee classified it as “the highest significant wave height as measured by a buoy”. The Committee consisted of scientists from Great Britain, Canada, the United States of America and Spain.'''

http://www.abc.es/viajar/20140220/abci-video-tormenta-costa-francesa-201402201325.html http://www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/borrasca-explosiva-petra-deja-arboles-caidos-flotas-amarradas/csrcsrpor/20120425csrcsrnac_1/Tes

another major Atlantic depression.

Qumaira (6 Feb)
February 5–8, 2014. c.975 hPa. also spelled Qumeira lower winds expected than from Petra, though rain falling on saturated land predicted to cause more flooding. http://www.ouest-france.fr/ouest-la-tempete-okka-arrive-jeudi-soir-1907886 http://www.francetvinfo.fr/meteo/tempete/tempete-qumaira/direct-la-tempete-qumaira-arrive-sur-l-ouest-de-la-france_523157.html http://www.4gotas.com/blog/pronostico-qumaira/ 55,000 without power after Qumaira http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26081970 70,000 http://www.connexionfrance.com/qumaira-ruth-storms-power-floods-France-15442-view-article.html http://www.reactionsnet.com/RMSArticle/3306813/Windstorm-Qumaira.html http://www.catnat.net/veille-catastrophes/alertes-et-suivis/alertes-et-vigilances/17303-06-et-07-02-alerte-temp%C3%AAte-temp%C3%A9r%C3%A9e-qumaira-et-inondations-pour-le-nord-ouest-de-la-france http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26081970 http://www.meteo-spatiale.fr/src/images_evenementielles.php?id=43144872

Foehn wind effect winds across the Pyrenees in Aquitaine, plus 20 temperatures. strong winds to the coast and even inland France A gust recorded at Parc Montsouris in Paris (104 km / h) was the highest since the passage of Cyclone Xynthia in 2010. highest gust of 127 km/h recorded at Île d'Yeu on French west coast, with a gust at altitude of 206 km/h at Iraty in the Pyrenees. Landivisiau, Brittany saw 62mm of rain, with further heavy rain and flooding across north west France. Power outages, 20,000 in Loire Atlantique, 9000 Charente-Maritime, 45,000 across Centre_(French_region), 6000 Picardie.

50 metres of the southern perimeter wall of Château des Rohan (Pontivy castle) *no link to Rohan Castle* in Pontivy partially collapses 7 February.

Ruth (8 February)
Formed February 6 dissipated 12, 2014. 945 hPa Irish names for Christine, Brigid and Ruth-http://www.thejournal.ie/storm-names-ireland-ruth-brigid-1299113-Feb2014/

Ruth (Charlie) – February 6–Currently active 2014. 945 hPa.

A landslip on the West of England Main Line at Crewkerne, Somerset cut off the final link to Exeter on 8 February, expected to take a week to repair, though reports that the track was safe for slow moving trains, however signal problems led to line closure again on 9 February, but was re-opened again that afternoon. The alternative route along the Bristol to Exeter Line was under water on the Somerset Levels,with trains unable to Taunton and Bridgewater. Line at Dawlish out of action, likely to be out of action for sometime and protected by shipping containers.

missing kayaker on river Usk found 10 Feb

Forecast in some media billed storm as "Stormageddon". Daily Express claimed that the storm would be on a par with Great storm of 1987. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-weather-travel-disruption-damage-and-more-floods-expected-as-storm-ruth-arrives-9116535.html

Gustav (?)-http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2014/02/07/uk-might-face-most-severe-windstorm-of-season-in-ruth/ Ruth predicted to be similar in wind and strength to Petra, or somewhate less as predicted by BBC meteorologists.

Ireland prep-http://www.thejournal.ie/storms-ireland-weather-forecast-1306153-Feb2014/ Orange alert for south, west and Irish sea coasts, yellow alert across Leinster and Munster. Orange alert for SW England and Wales

France Finistere and Morbihan on red alert, Ille et Vilaine and Loire Atlantique orange. Spanish Coast red warning coastal Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia (Lugo and A Coruna). pontevedra, bizkaia and gipuzkoa orange alert. Portuguese coast north of Lisbon on red alert, and orange to the south.

100 km/h exceeded Ile de France and Dordogne. Lightning damage to rescue centre in Plumelec, Morbihan. Probable tornado in Conlie, Sarthe department. river Oust flooding in the area around Josselin, Brittany where a 20m long section of pontoon and a boat were swept away by flooding and smashed on a bridge pier. further widespread flooding across Brittany.

http://www.catnat.net/veille-catastrophes/alertes-et-suivis/alertes-et-vigilances/17310-07-au-09-02-alerte-temp%C3%AAte-temp%C3%A9r%C3%A9e-ruth-et-submersion-marine-pour-l-irlande,-le-royaume-uni-et-l-ensemble-du-littoral-atlantique-de-la-france

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26106290 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26102451


 * check*The storm left 54,000 without power in southwest England 8 Feb, 6000 still without on 9 feb.

Mumbles, near Swansea recorded a high wind of 78 mph, Ciloerwent in Powys recorded a rainfall total of 32mm over 12 hours.

Ruth Bomb (meteorology) http://www.rtve.es/noticias/20140208/nuevo-temporal-activa-alerta-roja-olas-diez-metros-galicia-asturias-cantabria/874842.shtml

Stephanie (9-10 February)
February 8–13, 2014. c.985 hPa Impact across Iberia and southern France onwards to Italy. Ruth and Stephanie EU disaster thingy-http://ercportal.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ERCMaps/ECDM_20140210_Europe_SevereWeather.pdf

Stephanie formed on 9 February before explosively deepening according to the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, being the sixth storm to do so in 10 days.

according to Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera dropped 29 hPa entre as 12UTC (12 horas locais) do dia 08 e as 12UTC do dia 09.

Taking a more southerly track than most recent areas of low pressure, impacting the Iberian Peninsula and southern France before heading across the Mediterranean towards Italy. The Portuguese weather institute put the entire coast of Portugal on red alert on account of expected high seas and gale force winds. The storm brought persistent rain, high winds and snow to Spain. This was the fifth severe storm to hit the north of Spain in just a week and the extreme weather has caused estimated damages at around 30 million euros.

greater than 60mm of rain in 24 hours, French departments of Languedoc-Rousillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte_d%27Azur several stations recording over 70 mm of rain, flooding to Var, La Seyne sur Mer, Ollioules and Gapeau. Corsica which saw some flash flooding, Renno recording 110 mm of rain in 24 hours. Winds 178 km/h at high altitude Iraty, 130 km/h recorded at Cap Béar. http://actualite.lachainemeteo.com/actualite-meteo/2014-02-09-22h20/tempete-stephanie---l-europe-du-sud-en-alerte-24141.php wind knocks down 30 ton steel obelisk in Madrid.-http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/espana/noticias/5528500/02/14/El-viento-derriba-un-obelisco-ornamental-de-mas-de-30-toneladas-en-Madrid.html Portugal Bomb (meteorology) http://maiortv.com.pt/tempestade-stephanie-nao-da-descanso-bombeiros/ 130km/h -http://www.abola.pt/mundos/ver.aspx?id=459031 http://maiortv.com.pt/tempestade-stephanie-atinja-portugal-pelas-18-horas/ http://maiortv.com.pt/estragos-litoral-causam-prejuizos-de-milhoes/ http://www.publico.pt/sociedade/noticia/tempestade-stephanie-obriga-avioes-a-desviar-rotas-1623101

high wind speeds hurricane strength at southern French Atlantic coast, triggered high waves and rainfall leading to floods in southern France and Corsica, triggered heavy rain in western Alps traffic disruption, Portugal stadium roof badly damaged.

-transport issues, costs of 5 storms Spain in 1 week-http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=199270 http://pordescargadirecta.com/showthread.php?t=776577

Cabo da Roca, Portugal 134 km/h wind...

Tini (12 Feb)
Cyclone Tini http://www.thejournal.ie/storms-are-battering-limerick-and-heres-the-result-1312883-Feb2014/ http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/storm-darwin-hurricane-gusts-mass-destruction-widespread-blackouts-and-not-one-person-seriously-injured-258663.html http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/atlantic-superstorm-darwin-shuts-airports-collapses-roads-and-cuts-power-across-england-wales-and-ireland-30003310.html http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/storm-darwin-blew-down-up-to-7-5-million-trees-task-force-finds-1.1712533 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26153889 http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2014/02/15/euro-windstorms-uk-floods-add-up-to-meaningful-insurance-losses/ https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:260652

also named storm Darwin.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83127 -http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/lives-nearly-claimed-by-darwins-hurricane-force-winds-258632.html
 * Met Eireann report: Storm on 12 February 2014

wind warnings to uk 60-70 mph winds wed 12 feb. orange on Monday. red wind warning issued -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYghqeYttHo

ESB 260,000 without power at height, Eircom 60,000 without service-http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0213/504002-weather-storm/ 54 high voltage substations-http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/190-000-without-power-as-storm-clean-up-begins-1.1690001 The Energy Networks Association, claimed about 80,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity on 12 February 2014. Police declared a major emergency in County Kilkenny. between 5,000 and 7,000 hectares of forest have been blown down, mainly in Munster. '''12 February 2014 - Another record wave height set today south of Cork Kinsale Energy Gas Platform recorded a maximum wave height of 25 metres this afternoon (Wednesday 12th February). Apart from being a record at that location, it is also the highest maximum wave height recorded in Irish coastal waters (the previous record being 23.4 metres at the M4 buoy off the Northwest coast).'''-http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=243

http://www.meteo-paris.com/actualites/suivi-de-la-depression-tini-inondations-en-bretagne-12-fevrier-2014.html http://actualite.meteoconsult.fr/actualite/meteo/aujourd-hui---tempete-tini-en-manche_24162_2014-02-11.php http://ercportal.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ERCMaps/ECDM_20140213_UK_Ireland_SevereWeather.pdf

max wind gust since Hurricane Debbie in 1961 at Shannon airport 86 kn.http://uhi-mahara.co.uk/view/artefact.php?artefact=1628&view=1258

Up to 50,000 homes and businesses will remain without power for a third night as ESB Networks struggles to repair damage caused by Wednesday’s violent storms. Power has been restored to 200,000 customers but the ESB says problems persist in the south and west.http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0214/504257-weather/ http://www.thejournal.ie/storms-are-battering-limerick-and-heres-the-result-1312883-Feb2014/ http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/storm-darwin-hurricane-gusts-mass-destruction-widespread-blackouts-and-not-one-person-seriously-injured-258663.html http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/atlantic-superstorm-darwin-shuts-airports-collapses-roads-and-cuts-power-across-england-wales-and-ireland-30003310.html http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/storm-darwin-blew-down-up-to-7-5-million-trees-task-force-finds-1.1712533 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26153889 http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2014/02/15/euro-windstorms-uk-floods-add-up-to-meaningful-insurance-losses/

Early hours of 13 February the Irish contender for European tree of the year fell, a 200 year old poplar... Strongest winds hit Wales and Northwest English coasts.

Tini estimated cost €245 million Perils.

13/14 Century Coolbanagher castle near Portlaois southern facade collapsed during the storm, the remaining structure was later demolished by the owners due to health and safety concerns with the remaining structure.

Ulla (14-15 February)
12-?? February, 2014. c.957 hPa.

2 casualties, woman died in central London following masonry falling on her car, two men taken to hospital. An 85 year old cruise ship passenger did after hit by a freak wave, another passenger also airlifted.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26200497

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jets-over-london-issued-mayday-calls-and-diverted-to-manchester-at-height-of-valentines-day-storm-9131887.html

The Energy Networks Association said almost 450,000 homes and businesses suffered power cuts over the night of 14–15 February 2014. 100,000 lost power in France.http://www.thelocal.fr/20140215/storm-leaves-100000-homes-without-power http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/tempete-ulla-un-mort-et-encore-100-000-foyers-prives-d-electricite-15-02-2014-3593545.php http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2014-02-15/trains-suspended-between-penzance-and-plymouth/ http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-02-15/soldiers-drafted-in-to-keep-m50-open/ http://www.itv.com/news/2014-02-14/another-day-another-storm/

http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2014/02/15/euro-windstorms-uk-floods-add-up-to-meaningful-insurance-losses/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10644073/The-sinkhole-truth-whos-to-blame-man-or-rain.html http://www.teinteresa.es/espana/tiempo/Ulla-ciclogenesis-Espana-San-Valentin_0_1084092223.html http://www.meteo.be/meteo/view/nl/13194566-De+sterke+winden+van+14+en+15+februari+2014.html Milford on Sea restaurant rescue Video of Newlyn Bridge waves breaching bridge walls and defences.

Ulla was the strongest storm since early autumn along the coast of Morbihan and Finistere in France with the coasts seeing gusts of 150 km/h, Camaret gust of 179 km/h with Gatteville le Phare 156 km/h and Oussant-Stiff 152 km/h. 115 000 homes were without electricity and 90,000 were still 15 Saturday morning (55 000 Brittany, 32 000 in the Côtes d'Armor, Morbihan in 2000 and 1000 in the Ille et Vilaine. Two thousand passengers were stranded in railway stations. In the UK the winds from Ulla were weaker than from Tini. Thirty people were evacuated from a waterfront restaurant in Milford after the windows were smashed down by high seas and winds. 140,000 without power in the wake of the storm in the UK. a landslip stopped all trains to Plymouth. Two hikers were reported missing in Scotland.

Brittany glasshouse damage.

14 February Svendborg Maersk reported losing around 50 containers off Brest, France -http://www.fleetmon.com/maritimenews/2014/3134/svendborg-maersk-lost-50-containers/ later updated to 520 -http://www.fleetmon.com/maritimenews/2014/3149/update-svendborg-maersk-lost-520-containers/ according to manifest contain any dangerous goods; contents are mainly pet food,frozen meat, auto parts and cigarettes.(dorset council report)

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/21/world/container-ship-loses-containers/

French environmentalists to sue.-http://www.english.rfi.fr/economy/20140221-denmarks-maersk-sued-after-losing-517-containers-french-coast http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Millions-cigarettes-coming-ashore-slipping-ship-s/story-20685974-detail/story.html http://www.actunautique.com/article-video-recuperation-en-direct-d-un-conteneur-du-maersk-svendborg-par-l-abeille-liberte-122676483.html

DWD Ulla waves.

Belgium 958hPa,

February
'''the UK observed its fourth wettest February in the 105-year national period of record, receiving 184 percent of average precipitation. Some areas, including Herefordshire and Sussex, England received nearly three times their monthly average.'''- http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2014/february http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/last-winter-wettest-on-record-and-last-month-was-the-wettest-february-on-record-30057526.html http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/clim-2014-Feb.pdf http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/02/07/actualidad/1391806770_014138.html

http://www.smhi.se/nyhetsarkiv/extremt-hoga-minimitemperaturer-i-februari-1.36103 -Comparatif des houles 2013-2014 http://www.lacanausurfinfo.com/news-17-413/swell-xxl-dimanche-02-fevrier-2014.html http://thoughtleadership.aonbenfield.com/Documents/20140306_if_february_global_recap.pdf

after cold January in Finland, February was exceptionally mild in the country being 6-8 °C warmer across many areas. Since 1900 Finland was only warmer in the month in 1990.(might have been warmer in 2008, unclear source) data based on-http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/2 http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/Data/CurrentWeather/wcd/blog/a-wet-winter-and-what-might-come-next/ http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/appmanager/bvbw/dwdwwwDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=dwdwww_menu2_presse&T98029gsbDocumentPath=Content/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2014/20140227__Deutschlandwetter__Februar__2014__e__news.html

Subsequent weather
http://www.weathercast.co.uk/weather-news/news/ch/6423652dc79323e97d64ed11b25a63f2/article/march_weather_review-2.html

Andrea
28 February Wind gusts 110-130 km/h on the coast of Finistere, 90-110 in the interior of Brittany. high winds, damage limited, though a supermarket in Roscoff, Brittany lost part of its roof. 8500 homes without power and hundreds of trees down. Damage to school building in Mont de Marsan and possible tornado.

Christine


Strong winds to western France with a tornado reported in Vendée. powerful waves on Atlantic coasts, red warnings on Spanish and Portuguese, French coast orange alert. Flooding in Quimper, Morlaix and Landerneau. Elorn at Landerneau flooded for the 6th time this year, exceeding the water height recorded on 3 January during Anne. Garonne in Bordeaux flooded, widespread traffic disruption, 3000 without power in Béarn after wind brought down trees. High waves flooded Biarritz casino.

Winds blew metal sheeting onto high-tension electricity lines near Lucon, Vendee leaving 13,500 without electricity. Hikers swept away by a wave at Erdeven, Brittany one woman dies of heart attack. explosive http://www.teinteresa.es/espana/tiempo/ciclogenesis-explosiva-Christine-fuertes-vientos_0_1094891443.html http://noticias.lainformacion.com/catastrofes-y-accidentes/tormentas-de-viento/la-ciclogenesis-explosiva-christine-se-despide-este-martes-de-espana_a146UWDYXCRhp0rcojIgv4/ http://www.storm-surge.info/high-waves-bay-biscay-seen-jason-2-and-globwave 974 hPa http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/03/03/actualidad/1393837911_927799.html http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2014/03/03/inondations-dans-le-finistere-en-raison-des-grandes-marees_4376611_3244.html http://connexionfrance.com/france-storm-atlantic-weather-warning-seas-flooding-coast-coastal-woman-died-15516-view-article.html http://www.thelocal.fr/20140303/western-france-on-alert-for-coastal-flooding http://www.ouest-france.fr/inondations-direct-le-littoral-reste-en-vigilance-ce-lundi-1976286 http://www.ouest-france.fr/erdeven-une-randonneuse-decede-emportee-par-une-vague-1973199 warnings red north of Lisbon, orange to south. IPMA http://www.ouest-france.fr/node/1976286 http://www.ouest-france.fr/node/1976523 http://www.ouest-france.fr/node/1976611 http://www.keraunos.org/actualites/fil-infos/2014/mars/orage-vent-violent-3-mars-2014-vendee-mouilleron-le-captif.html?PHPSESSID=vaqnpf865sl9l7r3ckf0om05j3

Nordic spring storms
The first three weeks of March saw areas of low pressure repeatedly cross Norway from the North Atlantic, coming in from the Norwegian Sea across to the Barents Sea. These storms brought with them warm and humid/moist air from the south west. None of these storms was especially strong/powerful.

Jorun (Norway)
(unnamed by FUB) In early March high pressure built over UK and western Europe for first time in months (since December), directing the Atlantic storm path to the north. An area of low pressure designated extreme weather and named Jorun by Norwegian Meteorological Institute on 8 March 2014. http://www.yr.no/nyheter/1.11591592 http://www.met.no/Ekstremv%C3%A6ret+Jorun+kommer.b7C_xdjQ1n.ips Finnmark, northern Norway expecting winds 30-40m/s to coincide with the start of the Finnmarksløpet dog sled race. http://www.nordlys.no/nyheter/article7216299.ece high pressure steering lows into the Norwegian Sea, rather than into Europe.http://www.nrk.no/nordnytt/bolighus-far-strommen-tilbake-1.11593025 affected parts of Troms and Finnmark with a westerly full to strong storm. Jorun brought hurricane strength winds of 40 m/s to the mountains at Banak, and wind gusts stronger than could be measured, highest recorded at 51.4 m/s (100kt). The low moved over the Barents sea filling as it moved eastward.-http://met.no/Ekstremv%C3%A6ret+Jorun+er+over.b7C_xdjQ2o.ips

Kyrre (Norway)
Another extreme weather event named by Norwegian Meteorological Institute as Kyrre affected north (Nordland and Troms) Norway on 13-14 March with extreme precipitation and wind. Up to 90mm fell in 24 hours, flooding, landslides and closing roads in Nordland and Troms. -http://www.nrk.no/nordland/stormen-kyrre-velter-traer-og-biler-1.11605805 two people hospitalised after wind blew a bus off the road in -http://www.nrk.no/nordland/to-personer-i-observasjon-1.11605533 -http://www.nrk.no/sognogfjordane/ingen-_all-right_-natt-og-kveld-1.11605613 close to Hurricane force winds-http://www.yr.no/nyheter/1.11605496

Carl (Denmark) Ev (FUB)
14-15 March http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Vejret/2014/03/15/064236.htm an intense low pressure brought high winds which damaged buildings and forestry in southern Norway on the 14 March, with Hordaland recording the strongest winds in 20 years. Didn't reach hurricane strength in Denmark. Investigated by Perils AG and non-qualifying (losses less than €200).

Pentti (FMI) Hannelore III? (FUB)
21 March http://yle.fi/uutiset/storm_knocks_out_electricity_and_trees_in_eastern_finland/7150449 20,000 without power -http://yle.fi/uutiset/sahkokatkot_pentti-myrskyn_jaljilta_paaosin_korjattu/7150597 On the 20-21 March an area of low pressure drew across western Norway. In Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane many places saw more than 100 mm of precipitation in 24 hours, resulting in several landslides, which among other things led to five homes being evacuated in Nordheimsund. From the 24 March an area of high pressure began to build across southern and mid Norway.

2014 Atlantic bomb cyclone
shift in jet stream, storm intensification moving up east coast of North America. March 2014 North American Superstorm bomb nor'easter *no impacts to Europe* but did bomb in Atlantic with impacts in NW USA and Canadian Maritimes.http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail2.php?MediaID=1520&MediaTypeID=1

March synopsis
In the UK '''early March witnessed the end of a remarkable river flow runoff episode as outflows from Great Britain fell below average (for the time of year) for the first time since the third week of December. During this period, the 90-day average outflow exceeded the previous highest, in a series from 1961, by an appreciable margin. In March 2014 some parts of eastern and central England recorded sequences of 15 or more days with precipitation largely restricted to fog-drip and accumulated totals less than 1mm.'''-http://www.ceh.ac.uk/news/news_archive/march-2014-uk-hydrological-summary_2014_18.html and http://www.ceh.ac.uk/data/nrfa/nhmp/hs/pdf/HS_201403.pdf

Winter overview
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/0/a/State_of_the_UK_climate_2014.pdf temperature anomaly dec-feb 2014+global img-http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83371&eocn=home&eoci=iotd_previous IMGS-https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/global-maps.php?imgs[]=map-land-sfc-mntp&imgs[]=map-blended-mntp&imgs[]=map-prcp&imgs[]=map-percentile-mntp&imgs[]=map-percentile-prcp&imgs[]=map-prcp-percent&year=2014&month=14#maps We had more severe gales than any other winter since 1871. Usually we might expect to see one or two severe gales in a year, and the previous record was six in 1909...etc.

Storm
UK Met Office winter 2014 (1 December 2013 to 15 February 2014) was the stormiest winter since 1993 in the UK. UK Met Office noted the period from mid-December 2013 to mid-February 2014 saw at least 12 major winter storms, which, when considered overall, this was the stormiest period of weather the UK has experienced for at least 20 years. the storms of Dec-Jan were major winter storms, but not considered individually exceptional during a winter season, with severe recent examples recently being 3 January 2012 (Andrea) and 8 December 2011 (Friedhelm). It was the so-called "low factory" of rapid succession of lows, which made the winter exceptional. Pressure readings below 950 hPa are rarely recorded from land stations. Series of lows developing or forming as storms over North America explosively deepening over the Atlantic/gulf stream before reaching European coast. '''Ireland saw the worst storm on February 12 last when winds gusting up to 86 knots (160kmh) were recorded at Shannon Airport. The distinguishing feature of the winter weather was the "seemingly unending series" of Atlantic storms which crossed the county, Met Eireann's winter weather bulletin noted.'''

AEMET -Una " procesión de borrascas que no se recuerda desde principios de los años 60 " del siglo pasado seguirá afectando a España en los próximos días y al menos durante la semana que viene," for the storms up to Stephanie.-http://www.antena3.com/noticias/sociedad/serie-borrascas-precdentes-anos-seguiran-afectando-espana_2014020600241.html

Omega block developed over northern Norway/Scandinavia which prevented lows moving east over Europe, series of lows "dying" to the northwest of Britain and Ireland. A statistical analysis by the KNMI show that such a low daily average of the pressure this winter in that area occurs less than once in a hundred years.-http://www.knmi.nl/cms/content/118066/zachte_winter_door_diepe_depressies http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/8/WEER/article/detail/3592492/2014/02/07/Huidige-lage-luchtdruk-komt-maar-eens-in-de-100-jaar-voor.dhtml http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20140207_00968823 University of East Anglia analysis 1871. (*UEA source http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/lwt/#UK_Jenkinson_Gale_Index) winter records-http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/26372779 "exceptional" to describe situation currency from Owen Patterson after cobra meeting.***
 * Jan-Feb NOAA wind anomaly map -http://www.climate.gov/news-features/featured-images/winter-2013-14-already-tops-2012-13-number-hurricane-force-storms -http://www.climatecentral.org/news/this-is-what-the-winds-from-20-winter-storms-look-like-17174 20 hurricane force, 14 Bomb {meteorology) -http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail2.php?MediaID=1515&MediaTypeID=1

http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/weather-and-climate-at-reading/2014/our-stormy-winter-records-continue-to-tumble/ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-trends-section-7-weather clustering of storms late December into early January-http://www.air-worldwide.com/Blog/Oh-No,-Not-Another-One!-A-Rough-Winter-of-Clustered-Storms-over-Europe/

Research carried out showed that this was the stormiest winter on record in the United Kingdom and Ireland. '''The scientists used long-running atmospheric datasets to characterise winter storminess over the North Atlantic for the last 66 years and as far back as 1871-1872 for Ireland and Britain... however, when the frequency and intensity of storms were combined it was concluded that no year in the 143-year record endured a winter as severe as 2013-2014. The data we used covering the north Atlantic goes back to the winter of 1948 and 1949, but it goes further back in Ireland and the UK to the winter of 1871 and 1872.Records from Met Eireann show that more than half of all weather stations recorded their wettest winter on record, with the worst storm on February 12 last when winds gusting up to 86 knots (160kmh) were recorded at Shannon Airport.There was widespread flooding across the country, while water supplies were severely disrupted as power lines were downed.'''

Wind
In general peak wind speeds not exceptional, as storms reached peak intensity over Atlantic and were (mostly) diminishing at landfall.high wind speeds mostly up to 60 mph in urban areas, with peak gusts in exposed coastal locations exceeding 90 mph. Strongest storm in wind was St Jude Storm in October damaging winds in Southern Denmark and Northern Germany, with damages also in UK, Netherlands and Sweden.

Rain


http://www.thelocal.es/20140211/2014-the-year-of-incessant-rain-in-spain http://www.dmi.dk/nyheder/arkiv/nyheder-2014/02/danmarks-5-varmeste-vinter-var-solfattig-og-nedboerrig/

Wettest winter in Brittany since 1959 when records began according to Meteo France. Guernsey Met Office announced it had seen its wettest winter for 101 years, with a rainfall total from December 2013 to February 2014 of 483 mm. The previous record was 475 mm recorded in 1915, 35mm less than the wettest winter since records began in 1843 was in 1875/1877 when 510 mm of rain was recorded on the island. second wettest on record in Northern Ireland. Winter overall was mild and wet across France, 15 December saw rainfall totals of 647 mm in Brest (record since 1946, far ahead of the winter 1995) - 333 mm in Rennes (record since 1946, before the winter of 1990), - 556 mm in Nice (record since 1946, before the winter 1974) - 280 mm in Lyon (record since 1946 to winter 1979).

66 days to the 16 February, the Thames basin saw 409mm of rain, over half the normal annual rainfall. Thames peak flow mid-February at 507 cubic metres per second at the gauge at Kingston upon Thames in south-west Greater London.

Records from Met Eireann show that more than half of all weather stations recorded their wettest winter on record, There was widespread flooding across the country, while water supplies were severely disrupted as power lines were downed.

18 Atmospheric river events or disturbances over the winter, led to periods of high rainfall... drawing filaments of high water vapour, path of lows reaching down to gulf of Mexico along displaced jet stream to south of North America...

Coincident flooding. the full gamut of flood manifestations, tidal, pluvial (flash), fluvial and groundwater...The cluster of drought and flood events through the early years of the 21st century and the recent runoff and recharge patterns, are near to the extreme range of historical variability, and therefore also raise the question that they may reflect anthropogenic climate change.http://www.ceh.ac.uk/news/news_archive/the-recent-storms-and-floods-in-the-uk_2014_06.html http://cehsciencenews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/winter-rainfall-record-wallingford-met-site.html

Temperatures
Europe's warmest winter since 1950. J. A. Renwick, Eds. Europe and the Middle east, 2015: Regional Climates [in "State of the Climate in 2014"]. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 96 (7), S169-S218.-http://www2.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/state-of-the-climate/state-of-climate-in-2014/ http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/global/map-blended-mntp/201312-201402.gif provisionally third mildest winter in France.http://www.meteo-paris.com/actualites/hiver-2013-2014-en-france-le-3eme-plus-doux-depuis-1900-27-fevrier-2014.html winter 2013-2014 is the second largest of the mildest winters behind that of 1989-1990 and tied with the winter of 2006-2007-http://www.meteofrance.fr/climat-passe-et-futur/bilans-climatiques/bilan-2014/bilan-climatique-de-l-hiver-2013-2014 France saw the second warmest winter period since records began in 1900. Météo-Suisse estimated winter was the third mildest since 1864. the second mildest winter in Brussels, Belgium since records began in 1833. Météo-France has reviewed data from weather stations from 15 December 2013 to 15 February 2014 and has detected several records... http://www.knmi.nl/cms/content/118252/winter_een_van_de_zachtste_in_300_jaar http://www.meteofrance.fr/actualites?articleId=4220711 http://www.meteo.be/meteo/view/fr/13360824-Un+hiver+remarquablement+doux+.html Germany fourth warmest winter-http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/generator/DWDWWW/Content/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2014/Bilder/GrafikWinterPM,templateId=poster,property=poster.jpg winter very little snow across Finland, mild temperatures in winter overall with December and January markedly above normal, January colder due to blocking pattern. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/2 http://www.smhi.se/Bloggar/vaderleken/2014/03/24/vintern-20132014-mild-i-hela-landet/ In Norway this winter was especially mild, especially when compared to the previous one, the average temperatures experienced across most of the country during Jan/Feb/March were the mildest since the early 1990s, especially in the west of the country. In Tafjord a higher mean temperature has not been seen since records began in the 1930s, though the most extreme departure form normal for Jan/Feb/March was in Longyearbyen, with an average 11 degrees above normal.

German Perspective on winter-http://www.spektrum.de/news/der-winter-ist-beendet/1224515

Absence of cold unusual, first recorded winter in the Netherlands with no days with a daily mean temperature below zero.

Waves
Winter storms the most energetic to hit western Europe since 1948.Coastal impacts were very considerable and extended across the entire European Atlantic seaboard. Long fetch as storms developed in western Atlantic. Storm Anne
 * Waves AEMET individual storm and waves not of an exceptional intensity, but recurrence across 2013-2014 winter season was.http://www.aemet.es/es/noticias/2014/03/episodiosoleajecantabrico -http://www.aemet.es/documentos/es/noticias/2014/Analisis_Episodios_Oleaje_Intenso_V4.pdf

16 storm depressions formed in the winter months has only been seen in winter 1990/1991 since records began in 1956, followed by winter 1989/1990 with 15 and from winter 1992/1993 with 14

'''Anne storm waves were not particularly unusual for the northeast Atlantic, but the storm’s path followed a relatively low-latitude track, pushing the bulk of the wave energy toward the southwest of Ireland and England. Peak wave periods were exceptionally long (even compared with storms of similar wave height occurring in December), and enhanced the impact of the waves at the coastline. The combination of significant wave height and peak period is likely to mark the storm as a 1 in 5–10 year event in the southwest of the U.K., based on wave conditions experienced over the last 30 years.'''

DWD report.

The 110-km long Gironde coast, SW France, was exposed to the most energetic wave conditions seen over the last 18 years. The winter 2013/2014 storm waves caused unprecedented beach and dune erosion along this coast. The high-energy normally-incident long-period swell produced by the "Christina"/"Hercules" storm was outstanding.

From early December 2013 to February 2014, the southwest coast of England was battered by an unprecedented run of major winter storms. NERC analysis of wave data suggests that the storms were the most energetic to affect the southwest coast of UK since 1950. and thus represents at least a 1:60 year event.-http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/project/621BCA5B-3CF5-40FA-8ABE-6ED4372C1FEA

'''individual storms of 2013–2014 caused relatively low levels of loss. While not extreme on a single-event basis, the accumulated activity and loss across the season was notable, primarily due to the specific characteristics of the jet stream. warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures in the sub-tropical West Atlantic and Caribbean Sea.''' 20 year lull in activity +more. Most energetic winter

suspension of sediment off NW Europe coast and algal blooms.

Surge
http://www.nature.com/articles/sdata2016107 '''What is particularly clear is that coastal flooding 'clusters'. You get seasons and even decades of calm, with relatively few floods, and other periods when they occur in rapid succession. 2013-14 was a particularly unusual season, in that seven out of the 96 events in the 100-year database occurred during this period; no other season has had so many large floods in the last century. Two of the events in 2013-14 (5-6 December 2013 (Xaver) and 3 January 2014(Christina)) rank in the top ten for sea-level height. Both also rank highly in terms of spatial footprints - that is, they struck very long stretches of the UK coast.'''

other
The closure is the 45th this winter, meaning 25 per cent of all closures in the Thames Barrier's 30 year history have taken place since December 13 2013. Between 2 January and 5 March the Thames Barrier was closed on 48 occasions. This included closing on 13 consecutive tides in early January, and 20 consecutive tides in February.

Spanish State Meteorological Agency (Agencia Estatal de Meteorología) -http://www.aemet.es/es/noticias/2014/03/ruedadeprensa20032014 7 red warnings in Galicia, average is 3 in winter, waves since 1957, December, January and February has rained more than double than usual and made a first quarter rainiest since 1945.http://www.laopinioncoruna.es/galicia/2014/03/21/galicia-despide-invierno-temporales-mar/823285.html http://www.lne.es/asturias/2014/03/21/asturias-sufrio-invierno-cadena-reiterada/1559914.html

The saturated ground conditions contributed to cliff failures, landslips and the appearance of sinkholes

HSE offered advice regarding cranes in high winds following the failure of 3 cranes during the winter storms.-http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/luffing-jib-tower-cranes.htm

Aftermath
7800 households flooded and 3200 businesses. In the UK, storms caused 7,000 homes to be flooded, cost small businesses £830 million, and left Britain with a cleanup bill that will run into the billions. -http://www.newstatesman.com/staggers/2014/06/counting-1bn-cost-winter-floods Ireland saw total damages reaching €156 million after storm force winds on 12 different days.

17 fatalities.

http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2014/01/09/perils-to-investigate-six-more-european-windstorm-events/ since 1990 http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2014/01/08/losses-mount-in-worst-european-winter-storm-season-since-1990/ Storms and flooding: Insurance claims reach £426m, says ABI -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25928490 http://www.news-assurances.com/actualites/les-assureurs-britanniques-vont-debourser-534m-deuros-les-inondations/016781915 France http://www.news-assurances.com/actualites/assurance-catastrophe-500-millions-deuros-les-intemperies-decembre-fevrier/016782114 claims to be significantly lower than those seen 2007 United Kingdom floods which stood at close to £3 bn. February 2014 estimates were at around £630 million and could rise to £1 billion.
 * Insurance industry seasonal costs-- Xaver 1.1bn usd 800m eur, Dirk 500m usd 360m eur, total 2.25bn. http://www.postonline.co.uk/post/news/2321540/european-windstorms-caused-most-december-damage

Perils AG, '''What was not so exceptional, Even if from a meteorological perspective the past winter can be considered exceptional, it was not in respect of the resulting insured losses. Based on the events investigated, PERILS estimates the total insured property loss from the storms and flooding for the period from the end of October to the end of February to be EUR 3.6bn. This figure is significantly below the EUR 10.1bn loss which was experienced in 1999/2000 (Anatol, Lothar, Martin; PERILS estimates)'''.

Winter flooding of 2013–14 on the Somerset Levels and Moors were particularly badly affected as floodwaters inundated an estimated 6500ha of land, with drainage hampered by high tides.

'''Although the mainstream press reported record rainfall through much of England and Wales, with headline-grabbing coverage of flooded properties in the Somerset Levels, Severn Valley and Thames Valley, flood losses from winter 2013–2014 were not exceptional. About 17,500 flood claims in England and Wales, 9000 from homeowners from early December 2013 to March 2014, according to the Environment Agency this level of flooding is not exceptional, even in terms of events in the last decade.'''

7000 properties were flooded during the winter, comparable with the 2012_Great_Britain_and_Ireland_floods but significantly less than the 55 000 impacted properties during the summer 2007 United Kingdom floods.

This compares to the 2007 floods which resulted in at least 55,000 residential and business claims. Based on an analysis of the events at the time, RMS estimated the insured loss for the two main U.K. flood events of 2007 United Kingdom floods 2007 to be: £1.25–1.75 billion ($2.1–2.9 billion, assuming 2014 currency conversion rates). More recently, the 2012 Great Britain and Ireland floods 2012 U.K. floods led to the second highest annual insured flood losses in the U.K. since records began.

dead sea bird shetland -http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3856641 He said: 'So far we haven’t seen much recovery. This is bad news for tourism.'After last winter’s storms it might take another four years for the beaches to recover. http://phys.org/news/2014-11-coastal-winter-threat.html https://weatherbeatenarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/abstracts-from-our-confirmed-speakers/
 * Infrastructure: Eircom incurred one-off network repair costs of €10 million from the winter storms. 260,000 without electricity in Ireland.
 * Transport http://www.networkrail.co.uk/timetables-and-travel/storm-damage/ Iconic image of the winter storms, of the railway at Dawlish severed, lines hanging suspended in the air.
 * Tree losses -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26478323 7.5 million trees felled in Ireland by storm Tini. £1 million of damage was caused to commercial forests and woodland on the Welsh Government estate.
 * electricity prices http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/09/us-europe-power-prices-idUSBREA080S120140109 http://www.4-traders.com/EON-SE-3818998/news/EON-SE--Europes-storms-send-power-prices-plummeting-to-negative-17774766/ disruption https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287012/DECC_-_Festive_disruption_review_-_Final__2_.pdf
 * sea birds http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/27/france-storms-leave-thousands-of-dead-seabirds-on-beaches/ +BBC Wales, http://www.weather.com/news/science/nature/storms-dead-birds-france-20140227 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/11039617/Unprecedented-40000-seabirds-dead-after-year-of-storms.html
 * coastal erosion/archaeology http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/storms-expose-archaeology-on-omey-island.html Scientists estimate coastal erosion could be 1000% usual values. National Trust 7 years of erosion in 3 months. Irish forest remains uncovered. uncovered ancient forest Wales, Eng, France, Ireland. Washed out WWII ordnance. '''Fistral beach in Newquay say the beach has lost 125.37 cubic metres of sand per metre of beach - or the equivalent to half a billion bags of sugar.He said most of the missing sand has been deposited in sand banks and bars deeper offshore. Perranporth lost 210.28 cubic metres of sand per metre of beach - about a million tonnes of sand. Bude lost almost all of its beach, although some locations such as St Ives have actually gained sand.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/10700229/How-winter-storms-have-left-our-heritage-at-the-mercy-of-the-tide.html http://www.meteo-paris.com/actualites/des-tresors-historiques-decouverts-suite-aux-tempetes-25-fevrier-2014.html
 * Agriculture and Fishing. fishermen unable to go out to sea, increased price of fish, waterlogged land, next harvest could already be compromised.
 * Env Agency -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27095617

http://www.buildersmerchantsnews.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/9101/Winter_storms_lead_to_national_timber_and_fence_panel_shortage_.html http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/March_2014/6th-March/6-DEFRA-Floods.pdf

Meteorological Analysis
http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/weather-and-climate-at-reading/2015/the-wet-and-stormy-winter-of-201314-over-the-british-isles/ Into a pattern of unusual weather in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter of 2013/2014, including Californian drought, Alaskan high temperatures, Early 2014 North American cold wave etc...see-http://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/sea-ice-loss-human-warming-places-earth-under-ongoing-fire-of-severe-weather-events-through-early-2014-likelihood-of-extremes-for-some-regions-increases-by-500/ and links. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/25/world-2014-extreme-weather-events China 2nd warmest January. low precipitation. dec 13-17 heavy precipitation southern China...-http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news_members/documents/weatherroundup-China.pdf Russia-http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news_members/documents/winter_2014_Russia.pdf -http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/ExtremeWeatherinpartsoftheworld.html -http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/ExtremeWeatherinpartsoftheworldjanuary.html http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/Meteorologicalsummerwinterseesmanyextremes_en.html http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=252 http://www.reportingclimatescience.com/news-stories/article/wmo-worldwide-extreme-weather-seen-in-first-six-weeks-of-2014.html

'''Starting last fall, the polar jet began repeatedly following a route over North America that took it over Alaska and western Canada, and then brought it swooping down like a roller coaster over the Great Plains and the Midwest. There it bottomed out and climbed steeply north. It’s not that these ridges and troughs, these dips and bumps in the jet stream’s path, are uncommon. What’s unusual is for the dips and bumps to linger in the same place for months on end.'''

pattern which persisted from the winter half-year even into the summer of 2014.

?Ridiculously Resilient Ridge

Comparable seasons
The resulting storminess series suggest that for the Ireland–UK domain, W2013/14 was unprecedented in the full 143-year record.The three stormiest winters W2013–14, W1914–15 and W1983–84 correspond well with regional rainfall totals this season to have been the stormiest in the United Kingdom since 1871.10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00118.1

W2013–14 ranks first by counts of very severe gales11; W1909–10 and W1979–80 rank second and third, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.2465/pdf Comparable winter jet stream configurations seen in winter 1976-77, 1935-36, 1913-14.-http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/polar-vortex-in-1936/

Autumn_2000_western_Europe_floods

1993 Season.

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).'''

During the period September 1982 to March 1983, about a dozen depressions in all deepened to 950 mbar or below over the north Atlantic.

January 1948 has been one of the wettest Januarys on record (UK Weather World 2014), which also caused river floods in other parts of the UK (e.g. Severn). culminated in coastal flooding 29 January 1948.-http://www.surgewatch.org/events/13/

The frequency of very severe storms (G>50 based on the UK Jenkinson Gale Index) across the UK in each winter season (DJF) since 1900 constructed from reanalysis-derived surface pressure data.-http://www.hydrology.org.uk/assets/bhssw_files/m.kendon_20140620.pdf -

Count of the number of UK station-days recording maximum gusts exceeding 60 Knots (69 mph) for winters from 1969/70 to 2013/14, only exceeded by 1990, 1981 and 1993.-http://www.hydrology.org.uk/assets/bhssw_files/m.kendon_20140620.pdf

A similar long succession of very deep cyclone centres arising at intervals of only a few days occurred on the North Atlantic in December 1942.

While previous winters saw more storms, for example in 1914 and 1915, and ones which were more intense, such as storms in the late 1980s and early 1990s, no year in the 143-year record endured a winter as severe as the last one, when the frequency and intensity are combined.

https://www.facebook.com/weatherbellanalytics/posts/691079404290578?stream_ref=10

'''new study shows the jet stream pattern that brings North American wintertime weather extremes is millennia old – "a longstanding and persistent pattern of climate variability," Based on what happened in past millennia, that could make a curvy jet stream even more frequent and-or intense than it is now...They found that the jet stream pattern – known technically as the Pacific–North American teleconnection_pattern – shifted to a generally more "positive phase" – meaning a curvy jet stream – over a 500-year period starting about 4,000 years ago. In addition to this millennial-scale change in jet stream patterns, they also noted a cycle in which increases in the sun's intensity every 200 years make the jet stream flatter.'''http://phys.org/news/2014-04-west-cold-east-year-pattern.html

Thames high flows, highest since 1974. exceeded only 8 occasions in 132 year record, usually associated with lower temperatures when snowmelt over frozen ground lead to high surface runoff ie 1947 Thames flood.

Hurricane Debbie Night of the Big Wind The more recent storms of 26th December 1998 and 24th December 1997 were also of greater intensity.

'''Yet the Met Office’s own records showed there had been even more rain between November 1929 and January 1930, again long before we ever heard of ‘climate change’. In England alone, the 15.6 inches (396mm) of rain which fell in the winter of 2013-14 — claimed by Dame Julia to have been the most exceptional period for more than two centuries — was significantly exceeded by the 19.5 inches (495mm) recorded between November 1929 and January 1930. In fact, that rainfall two years ago turned out to rank as only the fourth heaviest three-monthly rainfall figure since the Met Office record began in 1766, below those recorded in 1929-30, 1960 and 2000.'''https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/12/10/booker-on-the-cumbria-floods/

Nth Am Cold Wave
proximal cause... '''Dr Tom Matthews from the Department of Geography at NUI Maynooth said the extreme weather was caused by cold air from the polar ice caps which spread into North America. Conditions were perfect for creating storms as it moved across the warm north Atlantic ocean, "The conditions we experienced were related to what was going on upstream over North America."High winds and high precipitation (rainfall) events are caused by low pressure, or cyclones.'''

SSW
Media reports of an over apossible SSW event beginning and a NOAA climate.gov blog post in early January 2014 originally attributed the breakdown of the polar vortex to a Sudden stratospheric warming event, which did not actually develop. The 2013–14 North American cold wave could not be linked to sudden stratospheric warming as had been the case in other harsh recent winters in the northern hemisphere such as during 2009-10 (Winter of 2009–10 in Europe), and (Jan 2013). Mechanism proposes to slow or even reverse the flow of air in the upper atmosphere, which flows east to west rather than west to east, which weakens the jet stream, as mechanism for cold winter weather seen in previous winters. This mechanism would not have explained the strong jet stream over the North Atlantic seen during the winter of 2013-14. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/12/31/sudden-stratospheric-warming-could-it-lead-to-a-very-cold-january-in-d-c/ [note no SSW occurred]

- http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/Atlantic_December_2013/Charts2.php http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/Atlantic_January_2014/Charts2.php http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Loops/Atlantic_February_2014/Charts2.php NOAA season gif -http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/animated_gifs/A_sfc_full_ocean_20131022_00Z_2014_03_09_2114Z.gif

http://support.rms.com/Catastrophe/Catupdates/CatUpdatePublic.asp?event_id=4118

Met Off http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/uk-weather-how-stormy-has-it-been-and-why/ http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2014/winter BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25626065 MgGinty http://www.itv.com/news/2014-01-06/why-has-britain-been-battered-by-a-series-of-storms/ Dutton http://blogs.channel4.com/liam-dutton-on-weather/jet-stream-lot-answer-uk/5813#more-5813

18 Atmospheric river events between December 2013 and February 2014 EUMETSAT

Fawkes diffluent block w of Canada- bbc.co.uk/news/25966889 http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feeds/26144695 http://www.weathercast.co.uk/weather-news/news/ch/0e7ae1f4a3eda2a94c797c9dbfaf4a5d/article/wheres_winter.html http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-causes-winter-storms-21863 http://www.lloyds.com/news-and-insight/news-and-features/environment/environment-2014/europe-sodden-after-storm-cluster http://science.time.com/2014/01/06/climate-change-driving-cold-weather/ http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/06/britain-wild-weather-rain-storms-floods http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/latest-wave-of-flooding-in-ireland-and-uk-a-taste-and-warning-of-things-to-come-1.1646314

Met Eireann December http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/sum1.pdf

In Iceland The air pressure was unusually high in March (2013 Cold Spring in Northern Hemisphere)and unusually low in December, but there was no new absolute monthly deviation record... The lowest pressure of the year was measured at the station Dalatangi on the eastern coast 19 December, 942.6 hPa. *see also for Dirk*

dec http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/2013/12#introduction

Atlantic ‘storm factory’ brews up more wet winter weather http://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/PR560662.aspx

http://magicseaweed.com/news/how-unusual-is-this-run-of-giant-swell/6048/

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/2013-decwind http://magicseaweed.com/news/the-50-year-storm/6070/

Storms' link to climate change uncertain - Met Office -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25675937 Met Office: Evidence 'suggests climate change link to storms'-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26084625

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-winter-storms-2014-government-response

Norway saw large contrasts during January 2014, with Møre og Romsdal, Trøndelag and large parts of Northern Norway seeing severe drought, however many areas of southern Norway saw their wettest January ever. Block over Norway led to severe drought and forest fires. http://www.weathercast.co.uk/weather-news/news/ch/e8ff3245f722dbf23e05e6fac420aac8/article/meanwhile_on_the_other_side_of_the_north_sea.html

Pacific anomaly
Was the extreme storm season 2013­14 over theNorth Atlantic and the UK triggered bychanges in the West­Pacific Warm Pool?Presenting Author: Simon Wild

UK Met Office and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Report
Released on 9 February

Quasi-biennial oscillation small but significant role in winds in Europe, during winter 2013-14 was unusually strong in western phase.

UK Met & CEH
Potential influences on the United Kingdom's floods of winter 2013/14. '''In some instances, such as the known decreases in Arctic sea-ice cover, this is believed not to have been a factor in the particular 2013/14 winter rainfall characteristics... This new review shows how a complex chain of events involving the Pacific Ocean and an unusual jet stream led up to this unprecedented winter.'''

Wang et al
'''The 2013-14 California drought was accompanied by an anomalous high-amplitude ridge system. The anomalous ridge was investigated using reanalysis data and the Community Earth System Model (CESM). It was found that the ridge emerged from continual sources of Rossby wave energy in the western North Pacific starting in late summer, and subsequently intensified into winter. The ridge generated a surge of wave energy downwind and deepened further the trough over the northeast U.S., forming a dipole. The dipole and associated circulation pattern is not linked directly with either ENSO or Pacific Decadal Oscillation; instead it is correlated with a type of ENSO precursor. The connection between the dipole and ENSO precursor has become stronger since the 1970s, and this is attributed to increased GHG loading as simulated by the CESM. Therefore, there is a traceable anthropogenic warming footprint in the enormous intensity of the anomalous ridge during winter 2013-14, the associated drought and its intensity. Strong and persistent area of high pressure over the north Pacific from November, dip in jet stream over eastern North America, dipole more intense as jet becomes wavier, dipole tends to precede el nino by one year, weather pattern became established during the fall of 2013, and intensified into the winter. They found it had its origins in the Western Pacific, where a series of large, slow moving atmospheric waves known as Rossby waves originated, before moving across the North Pacific''' other scientists cautious, as based on only one model...so absolute link to climate change not convincing, but offers an opportunity for further studies comparing models, hypothesis requires further investigation.

Arctic amplification theory
Jennifer Francis of Rutgers told meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science Jet Stream http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/uk-weather-high-anxiety-among-jet-stream-watchers-9131141.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26023166 resonance see2013 European floods http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2560310/No-global-warming-did-NOT-cause-storms-says-one-Met-Offices-senior-experts

'''climate models (mostly) agree with Francis's theory, correlate with difference between the thickness (Hypsometric_equation) of the atmosphere at the poles and at mid latitudes has fallen in recent years, which in turn correlates with data showing wind speeds in the jet stream, with the bits of the world that have the smallest temperature gradient showing the biggest drop in wind speeds. One problem is that the changes in atmospheric thickness and wind speed observed have become apparent only since the mid-1990s, which gives fewer than 20 years of data to work with. Another difficulty concerns the blocking patterns. Dr Francis’s theory suggests there will be more of them in future, as the world warms. But climate models unanimously disagree, saying that global warming will produce fewer of them... But Dr Francis herself points out that this year’s North Atlantic jet stream has in fact been stronger than normal.'''

sluggish, meandering jet stream proposed by Francis ...fits the pattern seen over the Pacific during the winter, Tim Woollings an atmospheric dynamics researcher at Oxford University pointed out in an email exchange that over the Atlantic the jet stream was stuck, but was not meandering or slowed where the jet has reached sustained speeds over 230 mph during the winter, reaching record 275 mph on 22 December 2013. 30% stronger than normal jet stream.

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/new-study-questions-arctic-warming-extreme-weather-links-16375 http://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/opinion/11158/it-was-so-cold-how-cold-was-it http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/14/global-warming-winter-weather-and-the-olympics-five-leading-climate-scientists-weigh-in/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/inquiring-minds-jennifer-francis-kevin-trenberth-jet-stream-winter AMO http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/56801

Tim Palmer, high temps in the western pacific -http://phys.org/news/2014-05-climate-scientist-extremely-cold-winter.html -http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/803 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-22/extreme-u-s-and-u-k-winters-linked-to-greenhouse-gases.html http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/7212/20140523/warming-tropical-waters-may-be-behind-icy-us-winter.htm

"There is strong evidence of links between the behavior of the jet stream and sea-surface temperature in the tropical Pacific," he says, "compared with much more speculative links with Arctic warming." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140522-climate-global-warming-winter-science etc... --- Screen '''In spite of mean climate warming, an ostensibly large number of high-impact cold extremes have occurred in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes over the past decade11. One explanation is that Arctic amplification—the greater warming of the Arctic compared with lower latitudes12 associated with diminishing sea ice and snow cover—is altering the polar jet stream and increasing temperature variability13, 14, 15, 16. This study shows, however, that subseasonal cold-season temperature variability has significantly decreased over the mid- to high-latitude Northern Hemisphere in recent decades.'''-http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2268.html http://phys.org/news/2014-06-arctic-linked-european-cold-weather.html --- wet windstorms, There is also a match between the occurrence of extreme wind speeds and storminess: W2013–14 ranks first by counts of very severe gales; W1909–10 and W1979–80 rank second and third, respectively, and feature sixth and eleventh in our analysis. -http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/lwt/ --- '''the Climate Prediction Center did not measure large negative AO index values during this last outbreak because the polar vortex was not weaker across the entire hemisphere—just near North America and eastern Siberia. While Canada and the eastern U.S. froze, many locations around and within the Arctic Circle including Alaska, Scandinavia, Europe, and western Russia enjoyed warmer-than-average temperatures. So the event was not a complete breakdown of the polar vortex, according to L’Heureux.2009-2010 more classic negative AO, AO NAO often strongly correlated, This latest cold outbreak was one case where they were not in strong alignment; in early January 2014, the NAO index was near zero.''' -http://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/how-polar-vortex-related-arctic-oscillation NOA+ days Dec and Jan Meteo France http://www.meteofrance.fr/actualites?articleId=3355213 http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~timo/datapages/naoi.htm Jet stream Relatively strong, persistent, occurring at low latitudesthe average Nao index* for Nov 2013 to Feb 2014 was the 4th highest in the last15 years with 72% of daily values exceedingthe average value of 0.13.

(The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is not very effective as a discriminator of surge activity in high magnitude surge generation (top 1% of events) within the region of the South-Western Approaches to northwest France and southwest England.)

Wild Befort Leckebusch
'''One alternative potential driver partly explaining the anomalously high storm frequency in 2013/14 could have been the unprecedented anomalies of sea surface temperatures in the west Atlantic (Fig. 7.2a). High sea surface temperatures in the subtropical west Atlantic (green box, Fig. 7.2a) and low temperatures over North America (yellow box, center panel Fig. 7.1) are unrelated (the correlation equals 0.03), but when occurring concurrently, they substantially increase the meridional temperature gradient over the core genesis region of extratropical cyclones. This meridional temperature gradient is positively related S33DECEMBER 2015AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY|to windstorm frequency over the North Atlantic and Europe (Fig. 7.2b). Baroclinic instability in this region can be positively inf luenced through a strong temperature gradient, leading to enhanced cyclo-genesis and potentially strong deepening of cyclones responsible for high wind speeds. Conclusion. The anomalous high number of wind-storms in winter 2013/14 over the northeast Atlantic and the British Isles cannot directly be attributed to anthropogenic-inf luenced factors as apparent in the tropical west Pacific. Very suitable conditions of natural internal interannual variability, including conditions over the tropical and North Pacific, North America, and the west Atlantic, favored the record number of storm counts.'''10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00118.2 https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm15/webprogram/Paper61393.html

Knight
unusual atmospheric dynamics linking the UK with the tropics and the stratosphere." http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa693c/pdf

Other
Noted that there is an anti-correlation between hurricane frequency and European windstorm activity during the following winter, provides a potential opportunity for insurers looking to diversify their portfolios geographically."

Lack of hurricane activity in 2013 Atlantic hurricane season which saw only 2 hurricanes *check* Cold water wake cooling of sea surface temperatures 3-5 C, difference not big enough to account for strength of jet stream over Atlantic, so not believed to have played a significant role in the storminess of 2013/14. *but, air sea interaction is a noted influence in explosive cyclogenesis ***did the developing cold pool in central Nth Atl hinder eastward development of the storms?***

http://www.air-worldwide.com/Publications/AIR-Currents/2013/ShhhThe-Quiet-2013-Atlantic-Hurricane-Season/

There was possibly an additional factor, whereby wind patterns were such that a phenomenon called a “westerly duct” allowed perturbed wind patterns over the Pacific to reinforce the Jet Stream strength across the Atlantic. Dr Chris Huntingford, a climate modeller at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, spoke at the APSE Flooding and Water Stewardship seminar in Oxford -Journal Article review - Huntingford, C. et al. 2014  Potential Influences on the United Kingdom’s floods of winter 2013/14,  Nature Climate Change-http://apse.org.uk/apse/index.cfm/members-area/briefings/2015/15-07-journal-article-review-huntingford-c-et-al-2014-potential-influences-on-the-united-kingdome28099s-floods-of-winter-201314-nature-climate-change/

Saharan Dust
Warm air from the Sahara acted to suppress Atlantic tropical storm formation during the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season. Saharan dust influences on hurricane formation is still a controversial area of science.

Thermohaline circulation
The reduction in our THC proxy... likely temporary lowering of North Atlantic Ocean salinity content and a resulting decrease in North Atlantic Deep Water Formation(NADWF). strengthening of the Atlantic sub-tropical oceanic and atmospheric gyre ... increased the strength of southward advection of cold air and water in the eastern Atlantic...acting over several months,... significant cooling within and to the north of the Atlantic’s hurricane Main Development Region. spring-induced tropical Atlantic changes through the summer-early fall,and modified large-scale conditions such as vertical wind shear, mid-level moisture, atmospheric stability, that acted together to generate an environment unfavorable for hurricane development in the MDR. thermohaline-http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feeds/26992301 http://tropical.atmos.colostate.edu/forecasts/2014/apr2014/apr2014.pdf We believe that the primary cause of the lack of 2013 hurricane activity was the unexpectedly large decrease in the strength of the Atlantic Ocean Thermohaline Circulation (THC) between the winter (January-March) and the spring (April-June)period. Atlantic multidecadal oscillation

The strongest sea temp losses occurred in January–February 2014, and followed a similar pattern to December 2013, with anomalous cooling averaged over these two months up to 120 W m–2. Josey, S., J. Grist, D. Kieke, I. Yashayaev, and L. Yu (2015), Sidebar: Extraordinary ocean cooling and new dense water formation in the North Atlantic [in "State of the Climate 2014"], Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.-http://www2.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/bulletin-of-the-american-meteorological-society-bams/state-of-the-climate/state-of-climate-in-2014/

'''interconnected by anomalous ocean evaporation over the North Atlantic subpolar gyre region (SPG). This evaporation (or oceanic latent heat release) was accompanied by strong sensible heat loss to the atmosphere.'''

Northern hemisphere snow cover
With respect to North Atlantic/European climate statistically significant correlations have been found between summer and autumn snow cover on the northern hemisphere and the NAO in the following winter.

'''According to data from the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during November was 13.42 million square miles, 310,000 square miles above the 1981–2010 average of 13.11 million square miles, and the 16th largest November snow cover extent in the 48-year period of record. The North American monthly snow cover extent was the third largest on record, behind November 1985 and 1996. The Eurasian November snow cover extent was below average and the 18th smallest on record. The average Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during autumn was 7.54 million square miles, 710,000 square miles above the 1981–2010 average of 6.83 million square miles. This was the sixth largest snow cover extent during the autumn season for the Northern Hemisphere and the largest since 2002. North America had its seventh largest autumn snow cover extent, while Eurasia had its 10th largest.'''-http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/

'''Judah Cohen, Director of Seasonal Forecast at Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Lexington, Massachusetts, has pioneered winter forecasts that link colder Eastern US weather to years when there is more snow on the ground in Siberia in October. It’s still early and October isn’t finished, but the month has started out unusually snowy in Siberia, which points to a cooler winter for east of the Mississippi River, he said. Halpert said Cohen’s method is intriguing but NOAA needs more years to show that it works as forecast tool.'''-http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/winter-is-coming-will-we-see-a-return-to-polar-vortex-conditions-in-the-us/story-e6frflp0-1227093438068

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-04/siberian-snow-cover-theory-proves-less-than-perfect-this-winter

Cross Polar flow
2014 1st week cold in Canada, 2nd week warming 3rd cross polar flow bringing in more cold air from Siberia. investigate: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/old-fashioned-canadian-winter/19478/0/

Clim context
some attribute to climate change, some disagree... Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, author of 2006 report on economics of climate change...http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/13/storms-floods-climate-change-upon-us-lord-stern%20

Climate scientists at UEA say the severe conditions "could signal the onset of climate change"

citizen science...first quantitative evaluation of the influence of global warming on Britain’s 2014 floods -http://theconversation.com/massive-citizen-powered-climate-simulation-links-winter-floods-to-global-warming-26141 “It will never be possible to say that any specific flood was caused by human-induced climate change"...weather@home -http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/30/climate-change-extreme-rainfall-england-flooding -http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-04-30-global-warming-makes-very-wet-winters-more-likely UK Met Office -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27228408

'''The bottom line is that a careful reading of any of the papers claiming an anthropogenic origin of the amplified upper atmospheric waviness reveals that they all have major flaws. Or the media has hyped them beyond recognition. I don't know of any leading atmospheric scientist that is claiming such a relationship. But that has not stopped the media from hyping the connection. There are, in fact, a number of papers that provide a different view, that the origin is from natural variability. For example, in the same issue as Swain et al, a paper by Funk et al looked at a large collection of climate model simulations and concluded that global warming had no impact on the West Coast ridging.'''-http://cliffmass.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-origin-of-this-winters-weather.html

Climate change does not cause extreme winters-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150327132207.htm

http://c3wales.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/URG-15-01-Flood-Climate-report-final2.pdf

Political
David Cameron Phillip Hammond, defence secretary said climate change "clearly a factor" in storminess. Lord Lawson not the case that the storms were poll -http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/18/floods-storms-climate-change-poll