I would like to thank my very good friends in Sussex ( Bucks and Mr T ) for putting up with me for the last week. It was a breath of fresh air being down on The South Coast. The weather was variable to say the least and at times we experienced practically all four seasons in one day !

Today marks the 25th anniversary of The Great Storm of 1987, a storm that wiped out huge swathes of woodlands and forests in The South East, caused immense structural damage and sadly 18 deaths. It was the worst storm to hit the UK in over 200 years. What are your memories of it ?

Up until then I was interested in the weather, but didnt pay too much attention to it. The night of October 15th/16th 1987 changed all that. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and rushing outside to try and save the fencing which was by then halfway up the road, along with the carport.

Back to now, and the signs are suggesting a further spell of unsettled weather. Keep an eye on the forecasts for Wednesday and Thursday in particular.

There is a hint of a brief warm up in temperatures from around October 21st, it may be an Indian Summer, but I have my doubts.

Thanks as always for reading and posting.

Moley

So nobody has any memories of The Great Storm of October 1987 then ?? I find that suprising given that it affected the most densely populated areas of the UK ( London and The South East ), and it was the most violent storm to hit the UK since 1703.

Back to the present and we are still under the influence of a Low Pressure System currently situated over Ireland. This looks like keeping the weather unsettled for the next few days, and latest reports suggest The South East will be plagued by cloud and rain later today and into Friday. Saturday may bring a brief respite, but the westerly flow from the Atlantic seems to be in control for now.

Ex Hurrricane Rafael is an interesting feature as it tracks North Eastwards, and although it wont directly affect us, it may well introduce some warm moist tropical air to the South East for a couple of days early next week.

Some of the model runs are then showing a noticeable change from around midweek. If the Northerly winds arrive we could be looking at daytime temperatures in single figures Centigrade, and some sharp overnight frosts, even here in The South East.

Coastal flooding has occurred this week as a result of Spring tides and high winds, Cornwall, Devon and Hampshire have been most affected, and the warnings extended to Sussex, though the worst seems to have passed now. Further north there has been widespread flooding in Cumbria.

Thanks as always for reading. Moley

I remember the storm well. Fortunately I only had one ridge tile that needed reseating.

I seem to remember another very strong wind a while later (following year?) where I lost a few fence panels.

I see the weather for next week is looking good for the time of year.

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Lets be careful out there !

Thanks for the post Kremmen. The later storm you mention is almost certainly The ' Burns Day Storm' of January 25th 1990.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/ ... g/jan1990/

The fatalities ( 47 deaths ) during this storm were sadly far higher than October 1987 owing to the fact it occurred during the day, when many more folk were going about their daily business. 1987 was described at the time as a once in 100/200 year event, so 2 storms of this ferocity within 3 years was exceptional to say the least.

For now though ( Friday ) its just a grey and dreary day for many of us in London and The South East. Southern Coastal counties are in the firing line for more rainfall as an area of rain heads across The English Channel from North West France, and this looks to be just avoiding the London area.

There are still some doubts about next week, with opinon quite divided in many forums.

A brief warm up still looks possible, with temperatures perhaps touching 20c ( 68f ) for a day or two in our region earlier in the week, before a northerly airstream tries to make inroads later in the week. IF successful it could be quite a shock to the system as daytime maximums MAY fall from 20c to single figures ( 8-9c ..46-48f ) within a matter of days.

That said, any cold blast is likely to be fairly short lived ( 3-5 days ), and my personal opinion is that the northerly blast will be further East, over mainland Europe.

Thank you as always for reading and posting, and whatever the weather, I wish you all a good weekend.

Moley

Well I got that one spectacularly wrong as the rain band suddenly swung further west, and its pelting down here now !!

Moley

Which was the Storm that Michael Fish got very wrong ??? I remember that one well x

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I do not suffer fools !!!!!

^^ That would be the 1987 storm Jane, although he regularly denies it. In fairness I think he was misquoted, and I believe was referring to a hurricane forecast for Florida that someone had asked him about. Thats his story anyway !!

Moley

Edited by Moley :

Anyone wanting to hear the Michael Fish version of the event from the great man himself can find it at Netweather.tv

He is a regular forecaster on that website. On the home page click on the link in the middle of the page....'Great Storm of 1987-The truth-Michael Fish.

Admittedly he does ramble on a bit in this, but he's still a legend in forecasting circles, and last year he accompanied one of the Netweather storm chasing teams to the USA.

Moley

** UPDATED WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24TH 2012 @ 0200 HRS **

Well those were my thoughts posted last Friday, October 19th, and Im going to stick with them !! The highest maximum temperature in the UK on Monday 22nd was officially recorded at Langdon Bay in Kent, at 19.2c. So far so good. The so called ( not by me I might add ) Indian Summer was very short lived, and restricted to a very narrow strip of Coastal Kent.

The rest of our region, London and The South East, has been trapped under what is commonly known as a ' Dirty High ' Regular readers of this topic may have heard me mention this term in the past, so I apologise for repeating it.

This appalling You Tube link probably explains it better than I can at this unearthly hour, but basically, Its a stagnant weather sytem that delivers several days of grey dank murky weather, especially in the Autumn months. Very little wind , low cloud, mist, fog and drizzle. Heres the link :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ7LF-wOWUw

My guess is that most of us have been experiencing this muck for the last few days. Rest assurred I think a temporary change is still on the way.

Colder and clearer conditions are on the march south at the end of this week. A much chillier weekend in prospect, probably followed by milder and far more unsettled conditions next week.

Thanks as always for reading and posting.

Moley

Must remember to keep the car under cover to avoid this 'blood rain' that's due

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Lets be careful out there !

^^ Now I know your car washing routine creates havoc with my weather predictions Kremm but I think we can safely dismiss the possibility of 'blood rain ' . It was a totally new phrase to me when I read it the other day.

It was a very chill wind which blew through Heathrow in the early hours of this morning, and prompted me to dig out the fleece jacket, hat and gloves for futures shifts. When i got home this morning I went straight on E-Bay and ordered more winter clothing.

There is talk of possible wintry showers overnight Friday/Saturday, perhaps reaching as far south as East Anglia, and as far west as The Midlands and The Chilterns. I would put the chances of that at around 10-15%.

Temperature wise this ( very ) brief cold snap doesn't look too bad, its the wind chill from a stiff north/north easterly thats the irritant. The upside is that the breeze and cloud cover should keep most of us in London and The South East frost free. Sunday looks like being milder, and next week shows signs of being very unsettled with Low Pressure nearby.

Anyone planning to travel further afield might want to look up Tropical Storm Sandy. The Eastern Seaboard of the USA may get interesting next week.

Thanks as always for reading and posting ( don't be shy to post please, all comments are very welcome ). Have a good weekend.

Moley