The October 1987 Great 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. The storm became notorious for being badly forecast by the Met Office, compounded by Michael Fish's BBC 1 lunchtime forecast the previous day when at the start of the forecast he made the immortal lines, "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.." Although, it wasn't a hurricane, it was however probably the severest gale to hit the UK since the Great Storm of November 1703. The track of the centre of the low caught the British forecasters off guard as the severest gusts were just to the east and south of the centre of the low, the low was further west than anticipated and as a consequence these winds struck the densely populated SE of the UK. The centre of the low itself made landfall about 2 O'clock in the morning in Devon with a pressure of 957mb. Much of the SE of England was in a very warm sector with temperatures as high as 18C. The warm front bringing this sector rose temperatures by as much as 10C in an hour as it tracked NEwards. Wind speeds were already picking up, at Jersey, mean wind speeds were 60mph and gusts of 90mph, on the Salsibury Plains, mean wind speeds were 58mph and gusts of 90mph and even in the centre of London, wind speeds were gust 70mph+. By 3am, the centre of the low was over Somerset with a pressure of 957.2mb. There was a sharp pressure rise as the low moved NE wards with some station recording a rise of 8mb in a space of an hour and there was a temperature drop as the cold front swung through. As the front moved through the SW, NW gales followed in it's wake. To the SE of the low, conditons were exceptionally severe with phenomenal gusts inland, the London Weather Centre recorded a gust of 93mph. It was between 4am and 5am , that the storm reached its peak, Shoeburyness recorded a mean wind speed of 62mph, Walton-on-the-Naze 63mph, Langdon Bay 71.3mph. The occlusion began to move across the SE and this brought sharp rises in pressure and falls in temperature. It was during this period that some of the strongest gusts were recorded., a phenomenal gust of 121mph recorded at Gorleston, a gust of 100mph at Gatwick forced the airport to close because of the severe conditions. Wind speeds were increasing over East Anglia with Coltishall recording a gust of 82mph. By 6am, the low was to the north of Hull and wind speeds were gradually dropping across the SE but even so gusts were still 80mph+. As the new day dawned the damage the winds did was all too apparent. By this stage the worst of the winds was over. Transport was at a standstill, crippled by fallen trees across thousands of roads and numerous railway lines. The M23 was closed for 2 days, hundreds of flights from Gatwick and Heathrow were cancelled, there was virtually no rail service in the southeast. Ports and harbours were closed by the high winds and seas, hundreds of boats, yachts and pleasure craft were loss to the storm. Schools, shops and other businesses were closed for the day. Electricity and telephone supplies were blacked out in the biggest blackout since the Second World War. Even by Friday night, many hundreds of thousands were still without power and even 2 weeks later, 2000 homes were still without power. Thousands of buildings were damaged, either directly by the wind gusts or trees falling onto buildings. The Shanklin pier on the Isle of Wight was lost and abouth half of the Isle's schools were damaged. A block of flats at Fareham collapsed and there was damage to the the two cathedrals in Portsmouth as well to Chichester cathedral. Part of Brighton Pavillion collapsed and there was damage to the sea walls at Rye and Hastings. Many caravan parks near the south coast were wrecked. Dover port was closed for the 1st time since World War II. The Stock Exchange, the Bank of England and other banks were closed, there was damage to shops on Oxford Street in London and some windows on St Pauls Cathedral were blown in. Millions of trees were lost to the storm, 6 out of the 7 oaks that gave the town of Sevenoaks its name were lost. Kew Gardens lost a third of its trees, many hundreds of years old, The Royal Parks in London lost about 5000, Hampton court about 1000, 200 each at Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. The National Trust estimated that they lost about 750,000 trees on their properties. Sadly 19 people lost their lives but it could have been worst if the storm struck during the rush hour. For millions of people sleeping in their beds it will be a night that they will never forget as they were woken by the sound of debris crashing outside and their homes shaking in the violent gust. Property damage was enormous caused by the winds as trees crashed on cars, onto buildings, tiles ripped of rooves etc. Insurance claims topped £1.5 billion. The Met Office came under severe criticism for their poor forecast of the storm and changes were made to lessen the chance of the Met Office being caught off guard with improve warning systems and new model computers. This was to be tested during the winter of 1989-1990, where severe gales struck the UK at regular intervals. Here's some data from the storm. Highest wind gusts at these stations Portland Bill: 89.7mph, Thorney Island: 103mph, Jersey: 97mph Heathrow: 76mph, Gatwick: 99mph, London Weather Centre: 94mph Shoeburyness: 100mph, Stansted: 75mph Highest hourly mean wind speeds Portland Bill: 60mph, Thorney Island: 68mph, Jersey: 63mph Heathrow: 45mph, Gatwick: 39mph, London Weather Centre: 48mph Shoeburyness: 64.4mph, Stansted: 40mph.