Remember waking up, looked outside, realised what was happening.
The thing that sticks in my mind with this storm, unlike other 'gales', was
the consistency of the strength of wind. The noise was horrific.
After the Storm had passed, people began to come out from inside and take
alook around. It felt like Armaggedon or something. Everything was very
quiet, trees down everywhere, building damage... a complete mess. It was
ever so striking. You could see on everyone's face complete shock and
amazement, their day to day routine had been brought to a complete halt.
Extremely local....Was truly freak and will probably never be matched,
although, that thing that went through France 2 or 3 years ago was pretty
hefty wasn't it? Not sure it it was as bad, but certainly a wider area.

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 14:10:12 -0000, "Gavin Staples"
wrote:

The October 1987 Storm

My Comment:
Just a request here, did anyone on this ng
experience this? If so what was it like where you lived? I was living in
Australia at the time and missed it.

We were on a small village estate near Stowmarket in mid Suffolk. For
us, the night seemed windy but not excessively so but it didn't take
long to work out it had been otherwise. After finding we had no power
or telephone in the morning, I left for work as normal. Our part of
the estate seemed virtually unaffected, apart from some missing tiles
and a garage roof which had blown off and up, coming down again at an
odd angle to the walls.

I got to the entrance of the estate and that was as far as I or anyone
else there could drive for two days. Either direction out for several
hundred yards was a carpet of fallen trees, mature oaks, elms and
saplings across the road in both directions, enlivened by the odd
shower of sparks from fallen cables. After a few hours, it became
clear that for several miles around the roads were completely
impassable and that the prospect of any official help in the near
future was remote. The parish council and a local farmer got a gang
together with chain and bow saws and for the next two days, we cleared
what we could ourselves - around half a mile of continuous trees and
shrubs from the road and a tour of people's houses where owners had
reported that trees had fallen on them or become dangerous.

We couldn't shift the biggest trees and just cut a single track
through what had been the top branches (it was several weeks before
all of these were cleared from the byroads). By the second day, most
of us were completely knackered. The last address we called on
appeared to have no fallen trees at all. I knocked on the door and a
little old lady appeared. "Hello there, we can't see a fallen tree in
your garden - is one of them damaged?" "Oh , nothing's fallen down or
dangerous - there's just a tree in the back garden I've never liked
and I want it chopped down". Considering how we felt at the time, our
response was remarkably polite.

After a couple of days most roads were passable, although it was a few
days more before power came back for us. My wife got to work at Bury
St Edmunds 20 miles away only to get grilled about why she hadn't been
able to get to work earlier or phone in. She explained why but was
initially disbelieved by her boss - the west of the county was much
less affected and everyone else there had got in ok. They thought the
media were exaggerating what had happened.

For me the most stunning sight was Rendlesham forest near Woodbridge.
This was a fairly mature pine forest in East Suffolk not far off being
felled and there were rumours it had been flattened - we travelled
there a few days later and could hardly believe what we saw. Right up
to the horizon, nearly all the pine trees were just, well, gone. Those
that hadn't been uprooted had been snapped in two and amongst the
layer of fallen greenery, their trunks stuck up like splintered
matchsticks. I struggled through a tangle of branches to look at one
of these trunks - it was around eighteen inches across and had been
snapped off about eight feet up. A huge area was affected but at the
same time it was quite localised - near the centre we could see at
least a mile and probably further before there was anything left
standing but at its fringes there was hardly any damage at all.

This pattern of areas being severely hit and others much less so
seemed to be a common experience in the area, although Rendlesham
Forest was an extreme example.

John Rainer

(TudorHgh) wrote in
:

"Apparently, a
woman rang the BBC and said she heard that there was a hurricane on the
way. If you're watching , don't worry , there isn't.."

Shame you had to perpetrate this bit of media mischief, because,
as the
dots at the end of the quote indicate, Fishy was cut off. He
continued, "Having said that, it is going to get very windy". It
doesn't seem to have done him an awful lot of harm, but that bit of
broadcasting history, at least, is bunk.

Tudor

As far as I'm aware, Fish gave the 6.30 forecast where the infamous "don't
worry" comment came from. At 9.30 in the evening Bill Giles said that it
would be "breezy in the channel", so if anything Giles is more at fault !

Cheers
Richard

"Nick G" wrote in
:

Here in Worcester there was very little damage from the storm as the
worst of the winds were further east.

What does stick in my mind was the storm of January 1990. It seemed to
me to be just as severe as the October 1987 storm, but covered a larger
area and I think there were more casualties and damage as a result.

Nick

I've looked into this before, I personally feel it's because those storms
that form a bent-back front tend to me much more intense and tightly-cored
leading to a much narrow region of damage. The 1990 storm was more diffuse
and the winds were spread over a larger area.

Also gust data at stations in the damage swath show how in the 1987 storm
there were a higher density of gusts closer to the peak gust, whereas in the
1990 storms, one or two gusts were very strong, but a high percentage of the
gusts were much lower.

Cheers
Richard

- And on Sat, 13 Nov 2004 14:10:12 -0000, it was spake thus in said in message "Gavin Staples" :

The October 1987 Storm

My Comment:
Just a request here, did anyone on this ng
experience this? If so what was it like where you lived? I was living in
Australia at the time and missed it.

Er, we were on honeymoon in Penzance

I slept right through it ! My new wife - a very light sleeper - was awoken at
about 0200 by the bay window of the hotel bedroom trying to demolish itself !

There wasn't that much damage that I was aware of out there in the SW, but the
sea was interesting in that there wasn't as much swell as I would have
expected, but there were HUGE amounts of water going up in the air when a wave
hit the sea wall... Not as bad as a few weeks ago, but still spectacular !

I shall try to dig out the photo's I took and post them... soonish !
--
Nick in Northallerton
www.whelan.me.uk
Also nickw7coc on
Yahoo Messenger
& on MSN Messenger
& www.skype.com !

Just a request here, did anyone on this ng
experience this? If so what was it like where you lived? I was living in
Australia at the time and missed it.

Gavin Staples.


My recollections are that it was a total non-event in this part of the
country.
Mr Fish got it spot on for us.
For a 13 year old weather enthusiast the TV coverage from the south east of
England was interesting / exciting though. The Sevenoaks-minus-six story
particularly sticks in the mind. But quickly it became exaggerated into the
"greatest storm since 1703".
Perhaps the most expensive to hit our shores, but Scotland had a more
powerful storm 18 months earlier which is all but forgotten (except in the
record books).
And in terms of human casualties - the Burns day storm of 1990 was a far
greater disaster.
Still, it was a storm.
A 1 in 250 year event for the UK? I don't think so.

ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº
Alex Stephens Jr
Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
N55º47'14", W3º55'15". 360ft/117m amsl
http://www.alex114.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº

In article ,
Alex Stephens Jr writes:
snip
And in terms of human casualties - the Burns day storm of 1990 was a far
greater disaster.

That was largely because, IIRC, the peak winds in the 1990 storm were
during the day. The peak winds in the 1987 storm occurred when almost
everyone was in bed.
--
John Hall
"Think wrongly if you please,
but in all cases think for yourself."
Doris Lessing

And in terms of human casualties - the Burns day storm of 1990 was a far
greater disaster.

You may be right about the other events Alex, but I can assure you this
wasn't just another big storm. I've certainly never experienced winds well
in excess of 100 mph before.There would have probably been hundreds of
fatalities if this hadn't occurred in the early hours of the morning. Given
the density of traffic and people movements in this area I hate to think
what the thousands of trees that fell and masonry falling would have done!

Dave. 2.6C 18.50Z

"Alex Stephens Jr" wrote in message



My recollections are that it was a total non-event in this part of the
country.
Mr Fish got it spot on for us.
For a 13 year old weather enthusiast the TV coverage from the south east of
England was interesting / exciting though. The Sevenoaks-minus-six story
particularly sticks in the mind. But quickly it became exaggerated into the
"greatest storm since 1703".
Perhaps the most expensive to hit our shores, but Scotland had a more
powerful storm 18 months earlier which is all but forgotten (except in the
record books).

In terms of damage I'd never seen anything like it along the
Barton-on-sea - New Milton to Mudeford strip; with entire rooves lifted
off and some cliff top properties practically destroyed. Jan. 25th 1990
came a close second though in terms of damage and disruption.

Jon.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

In uk.sci.weather on Sat, 13 Nov 2004 at 15:18:34, Jim Webster wrote :

"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
. ..
The October 1987 Storm
The October 15th-16th severe gale was one of biggest weather events
to
hit the UK of the 20th Century. The worst hit areas were the most densely
populated areas of the UK namely the southeast of England and East Anglia,
roughly southeast of a line from the Wash to Portland Bill.

I remember it well, because living in the North West we got endless news
coverage of the South East suffering from wind.

We escaped the worst of it here, but it was still a wild night with a
number of mature trees toppled.
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham