On 30 Dec 2005 21:18:49 -0800, BlueLightning wrote:

The city of Houston was evacuated because of Hurricane Rita
But the storm steered a little to the right, and they only got a
glancing blow

A "glancing blow" from a even a small hurricane is some what more
severe weather than the vast of majority of the UK *ever* experiences.
Think of the storm of '97(? the one that felled a few trees in the
south). Then add a good 20mph to the *mean* wind speed and make if
cover the *entire* country...

A Hurricane the size of Rita would have an eye over Manchester and
hurricane force winds down to Birmingham and up to Carlisle. Hurricane
force is 72mph sustained *not* gust. UK weather forecasts and reports
tend to use gust speeds these are generally 10 to 20mph above the mean
speed.

A hurricane is a completely different ball game to UK weather.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail