Not surprisingly, our power failed for about an hour, it just
came back on again.

Listening to the wind, and looking out at the trees whopping
about, I am full of admiration for the engineers who have to go
out there in this weather to fix the power supply.

Anne

On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 10:30:04 PM UTC, Anne B wrote:
Not surprisingly, our power failed for about an hour, it just
came back on again.

Listening to the wind, and looking out at the trees whopping
about, I am full of admiration for the engineers who have to go
out there in this weather to fix the power supply.

Anne

Wind reached Storm force 10 in Stornoway and a few other places in N. Scotland.
Only a yellow warning to be aware from UKMO again though.
Obviously they think that folk up there are made of tougher stuff and don't need an orange warning to be told to be prepared.

Len
down south

On Mon, 9 Mar 2015 16:40:39 -0700 (PDT), Len Wood
wrote:

Only a yellow warning to be aware from UKMO again though.

Some years ago, and I copied the correspondence to this group, I took
issue with the MO over their warning policy pointing out that a 'yellow'
for 25mm of rain for this area would probably warrant an 'amber' or even
'red' for somewhere like Essex. I think they conceded the point but, for
consistency, applied the same criteria over the whole of the UK.

Seemed a bit daft to me, but then lots of things do.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
By Loch Long, twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather

On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 08:49:29 +0000, Alan
wrote:
Some years ago, and I copied the correspondence to this group, I
took
issue with the MO over their warning policy pointing out that a
'yellow'
for 25mm of rain for this area would probably warrant an 'amber' or
even
'red' for somewhere like Essex. I think they conceded the point
but, for
consistency, applied the same criteria over the whole of the UK.

Seemed a bit daft to me, but then lots of things do.

The warning level is based on impacts rather than thresholds on
meteorological parameters.

A case in point was the amber rain warning last week, whereby the
amber area was different to the area that was forecast to receive the
most rainfall. This was because the impact from the rainfall was
assessed to be higher in that different area - namely where runoff
from the rainfall (and effects arising from it - such as landslides)
would affect populated areas and well-used roads.

200mm of rain in Essex would be very likely to have a much bigger
impact there than in the north-west highlands (think about the
Tewkesbury area in 2007), so would probably have warranted a red
warning.

I can think of other examples - but the message I am trying to convey
is that it should be the impact rather than the actual meteorological
values that is important - and the warning system reflects this.

--
Freddie
Pontesbury, Shropshire
102m AMSL
http://www.hosiene.co.uk/weather/
https://Twitter.com/PontesburyWx for hourly reports

On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:43:39 +0000, Freddie wrote:

I can think of other examples - but the message I am trying to convey
is that it should be the impact rather than the actual meteorological
values that is important - and the warning system reflects this.

I think we're agreed.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
By Loch Long, twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather

I can think of other examples - but the message I am trying
to convey
is that it should be the impact rather than the actual
meteorological
values that is important - and the warning system reflects
this.

I think we're agreed.

I agree that part of the assessment of a warning should be the
extent to which the expected weather deviates from the average,
or norm, for the area affected. However I am not sure that the
number of people affected should be any part of the assessment
undertaken by the MetO. For each of the affected individuals,
the effect is every bit as great regardless of how many others
are in the same plight.

One would have thought that the emergency services, generally
speaking, are aware of roughly how many people live where, and
hence are capable of assessing for themselves the likely demands
on them resulting from a weather event. But perhaps I assume too
much.

None of which addresses my actual question (in the 'What
triggers a custard warning?' thread here), which is why a
forecast wind event triggered a warning starting at the time
when the wind rose above 12 mph gusting 24, but a forecast
***for the same area*** two days later of 24 mph gusting 46 did
not.

Anne

On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:43:39 +0000, Freddie wrote:

I can think of other examples - but the message I am trying to convey
is that it should be the impact rather than the actual meteorological
values that is important - and the warning system reflects this.

I agree and enlarging on my earlier reply, it looks as though the
criteria have changed since I discussed it with them in February 2008.

What your saying is more or less what I was asking for then but at that
time in response to my criticism:-

quote from MO
In general you are correct that we do only issue warnings according to
criteria and apply the same criteria for all areas of the U.K. for
consistency.
/quote from MO

Don't forget, this was Feb 2008.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
By Loch Long, twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather

I agree and enlarging on my earlier reply, it looks as though the
criteria have changed since I discussed it with them in February 2008.

What your saying is more or less what I was asking for then but at that
time in response to my criticism:-

quote from MO
In general you are correct that we do only issue warnings according to
criteria and apply the same criteria for all areas of the U.K. for
consistency.
/quote from MO

Don't forget, this was Feb 2008.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
By Loch Long, twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather

Strangely, in the same year, in response to this event, http://www.sennen-cove.com/10march08.htm when I recorded the 2nd strongest gust I've ever recorded in sheltered Penzance (73mph AND there was no warning in force at the time) I got the reply.

"Conditions had not reached threshold values for a warning in a coastal location." which completely contradicts what you were told.

Yes, I know I've said this before, but it was the biggest sea in living memory from Land's End to Perranporth (all be it with not quite the long period power of 2014) a large tree in my garden blew down and landed on a garage, and my conservatory was damaged, so it is rather imprinted in my mind.
John Chappell at Land's End had recorded 80mph for 10 consecutive areas.

There had been a weather warning, bit it was for the preceeding SW ahead of the depression and it was removed at 11:00, just as conditions were starting to deteriorate. I've lost count of the number of wind warnings we've had when predicted gusts have been just 50-60mph.


Graham
Penzance

On Wed, 11 Mar 2015 10:49:05 +0000, Alan
wrote:
I can think of other examples - but the message I am trying to
convey
is that it should be the impact rather than the actual
meteorological
values that is important - and the warning system reflects this.

I agree and enlarging on my earlier reply, it looks as though the
criteria have changed since I discussed it with them in February
2008.

What your saying is more or less what I was asking for then

Looks like they listened :-) FWIW I think the impacts-based approach
works - so we wouldn't get a warning for, say, dense fog on country
lanes over Dartmoor, but there would be a warning for the same if it
affected the M5 at Exeter.

--
Freddie
Pontesbury, Shropshire
102m AMSL
http://www.hosiene.co.uk/weather/
https://Twitter.com/PontesburyWx for hourly reports

Obviously they think that folk up there are made of tougher
stuff and don't need an orange warning to be
told to be prepared.
Len

Thanks, Len.

Yes, I have been explicitly told by a Met Office bod that they
might not issue a warning for 60mph winds in winter in the north
of Scotland, while the same wind strength in southern England in
summer would certainly trigger a warning. That's perfectly fine
as far as I am concerned.

However it didn't answer my question, which related to apparent
inconsistencies in warnings in the same area in less than 2
days.

Tomorrow's maximum wind is now forecast to be 25 mph gusting 44.
No warnings.

Anne