Storm Ciarán sweeps Europe; brings ‘weather bomb’

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Storm Ciarán has hit the British Isles and the Channel Islands bringing a “weather bomb” with strong winds and heavy rain to Southern England.

The storm is likely to hit multiple countries in western Europe.

Large parts of the country are under yellow, amber, and red “danger to life” warnings as on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in Southampton, the Isle of Wight and Jersey councils have shut down schools.

Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) issed a warning saying that the highest risk of a tornado would be across South Wales to London.

A weather bomb, when pressure drops in a short amount of time, has only happened twice in the last 200 years in 1989 and 1821, according to scientists.

The Met Office has issued “danger to life” warnings across England and Wales. There is travel disruption across land, air and sea due to cancellation of ferries, trains and flights until Saturday.

The UK’s Met Office issued severe weather warnings for winds of about 80 miles per hour (128km/h) or more in coastal areas on Wednesday night and through Thursday.

Advisory for people to ‘strongly consider’ their journey

The operators of Southern, Gatwick Express and Thameslink have warned there is likely to be “major disruption” to services. It is unlikely that staff will be able to provide rail replacement transport.

They have been urging commuters to work from home.

Southeastern Railway warned commuters not to travel before 9am. The warning says tthat severe disruption was very likely throughout Thursday.

Meanwhile, several flights could not take off as the storm makes landfall in the UK.

Dutch airline KLM scrapped dozens of flights to and from Amsterdam Schiphol airport on Thursday.

This is because Ciaran is may hit the Netherlands with wind gusts of up to 68 miles per hour (110km/h).

Routes between Brighton and London will have a “significantly reduced service”, they said.

Specifically travellers should not attempt to travel from Brighton to London during this morning’s peak, they added.

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