The stormy January of 2005
Whilst January 2010 looks relatively settled and indeed it has been settled for some time now this is quite unusual for the time of year. January is more often than not likely to be a wet and windy affair and 2005 was no exception to this. At the start of the month plenty of active Atlantic depressions ploughed across the northern half of the UK; a deep low ran across the north on the 8th causing minor damage. However, another particularly intense storm developed on the 11th-12th January. The low pressure responsible for it was centred well to the west of Ireland on the 11th but began to deepen rapidly as it approached the north west of Scotland during the day bringing a spell of damaging winds. By early on the 11th the most intense upper forcing associated with a sharpening upper trough was about to engage a surface low producing explosive cyclogenesis that occured over a very tight thermal gradient. The depression was thus expected to "bomb" over the following 30 hrs - and would then be one of the strongest depressions to affect the UK for some considerable time. By 09Z on the 11th this explosive deepening was underway west of Ireland. The UKMO 06Z analysis had a sub 960mb centre to the west of Valentia and analysis already pointed to a rather deeper centre than expected, Mean wind speeds were approaching sustained hurricane force and it seemed possibble they might gust to record breaking speeds in the far north and west for a time during the late evening and early morning period of the 11th/12th.
At midnight the low was centred close to North Rona (a remote island station located in the far west of the Western Isles) and its centre was close to 944mbars as seen on the 00Z synoptic chart: http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/2005/brack/bracka20050112.gif). It was during this hour that the station recorded a mean low level wind speed of 94kts (108 mph) and a phenomenal gust of 116kts (134 mph) – which would be the 2nd highest low level gust ever recorded. However, there is concern about the station exposure and discussion still continues as to the veracity of the report. Although the station is very isolated and exposed, it was not alone in recording a gusts in excess of 100 mph during the night. The strongest lowland gust aside from North Rona, was one of 116mph, and was recorded by a trusty Davis Vantage Pro 1 at Carloway on the Isle of Lewis. The wind rig had been put into service only the day before the storm and the owner wasn't sure it would survive it's first testing; however it clearly did! Also Sule Skerry reported 115mph and the island of Barra 106mph (though the station stopped recording at 17Z so actually the maximum winds may have been higher). Benbecula reported 103mph and Stornoway 101mph.
The hurricane force winds which swept the Western Isles during the evening as the centre of the low (still falling at the time) passed just to the north caused a considerable amount of structural damage and flooding in the area as the tide surged inland. Tragically a family of five lost their lives in the storm as they attempted to escape from rising floodwaters at their home on Benbecula - the car in which they were travelling was washed into the sea by the tide and severe winds.
Much of Scotland was affected by the storm – roads were blocked, main bridges closed, ferry services and rail operations abandoned. Over 60,000 were left without power as trees and power lines lay strewn across the countryside in the storms wake. During the afternoon a driver was killed after a lorry blown over the A1 near Burnmouth crushed their car, many were evacuated from their homes as 4ft flood waters engulfed parts of Oban, a Spanish fishing boat which went missing off the Hebrides was rescued by the RAF – all 19 passengers safe. Further flooding also occurred in the Western and Northern Isles – particularly badly affected was Ronaldsay in Orkney where it was estimated to be the worst flooding for 20 years.
By the morning of the 12th winds were subsiding as pressure rose quickly and the low moved away to the NE. (Midday charts are available here- http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive//ra2/2005/Rrea2005011212.gif ). However by this time the damage had been done. If there was a consolation it was the track of the low at least meant that the most destructive winds were spared from the most populated areas of N Ireland and the Scottish Forth/Clyde valley. However it was certainly one of the most intense depressions to affect the west coast of Scotland for many years.
Some information for this article is reproduced with the kind permisiion of 'UK Weatherworld'
