During February, in the UK we have been hit by a deluge of storms – we saw first, storm Dudley arrive sweeping in and mostly affecting the north of the country. With barely any respite, storm Eunice then arrived a few days later, bringing high winds, this time to the south. Trees were ripped up and fences were downed as people headed to places like this timber cladding Hampshire based timbco.co.uk
to find the wood to repair their fences.
As if these two weren’t enough, quickly behind came storm Franklin bringing more high winds and rain to much of the UK, that was already suffering the effects of the previous two storms.
It might seem like we are being continually battered by storms, but in fact storms are common at this time of the year. Despite the majority of the winter being over, we are not yet in the Spring, and in recent years, we have seen many February storms which have been damaging to the UK. Here are just a few from previous years…
The Beast from the East – After a fairly mild winter, February 2018 saw the nation suddenly gripped in the full force of what felt like the arctic climate! On the 22nd February, temperatures started to plummet, and frosts took hold overnight all over the country. In the next few days, the east brought in the colder winds and temperatures started to drop to well below zero. Snow began falling and in combination with the winds and low temperatures, many schools were closed, and public transport became severely affected by the freezing and dangerous weather conditions.
As well as this, the arrival of March brought in the fierce storm Emma – as the country was still in the grips of below zero temperatures and snow and ice covered the ground, Emma swept in, bringing strong winds and yet more snow!
Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis – Before the crisis of the pandemic, February 2020 brought storm Dennis to the UK. In January, the UK had already experienced the devastation of storm Ciara, which was one of the worst winter storms we had seen for a while. The Isle of Wight recorded the highest winds of 97 miles per hour, but even in the rest of the south of England, winds of around 70 – 80 miles per hour were being recorded. In the early hours of the morning, on the 15th February, storm Dennis swept in, causing destruction, particularly across Wales. Bringing with it high winds of over 90 miles per hour (the strongest recorded gust was in Northwest Wales where a speed of 91 miles per hour was recorded!).
As well as the strong winds that caused damage, the storm also brought with it heavy rain, which caused flooding in many parts of Wales as well as in South West England.
