Irene
#76
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2004
Location: CHELTENHAM, Gloucestershire, England
Posts: 1,494
Re: Irene
I make a spare time study of the UK climate and the weather patterns of this country, with especial interest in any kind of extreme weather events which do take place here from time to time. The past two winters in the UK were notably colder and snowier than usual, indicating some kind of downward trend in winter temperatures in much of Europe.
In view of current events in parts of the USA it's interesting to note that hurricane force winds are not unknown here in Britain. In Novermber 1703 over 4,000 people were killed when a hurricane swept over southern Britain, levelling trees and buildings by the many thousands.
In October 1987 a similar storm swept over the whole of England south and east of a line stretching from east Devon, through the south Midlands up to the Wash on the east coast. Millions of trees were felled and buildings either destroyed or badly damaged. A seaside pier on the Isle of Wight was swept away, others on the south coast badly damaged. Two men sleeping rough in Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London were killed by a falling tree. The town of Sevenoaks, in Kent, became Oneoak over night and six of the ancient oaks toppled like bowling alley pins. Ships were driven ashore in Sussex. 80% of woodland on the North and South Downs of Kent and Sussex were flattened. The huge glass panes of the doors on the west front of Chichester Cathedral were blown in, and it took workmen in the town three weeks to dispose of all the blown down trees which had lined streets and roads in the town.
The hurricane reached full force between midnight and 4am October 15/16, 1987. Early on the evening of the 15th a BBC TV weather forecaster commenced his slot by telling viwers: "Earlier today a woman rang up the BBC to say that a hurricane was on its way to the UK. Don't worry - there isn't!"
Six hours later the south coast and south east of England, the Home Counties and London, and most of East Anglia were savaged by force 12 winds which are officially of hurricane levels.
Amazingly the death toll during this storm was quite low due mainly to the fact that it took place mostly during the early hours of the morning.
The death toll during the Burns Day Storm of 25 January 1990 was much higher at it took place during the daytime, and the severe gales (not quite as strong as the 1987 hurricane) affected much of the UK. One of the severely injured casualties that day was an actor who played the part of a cafe owner in a TV series called "Allo! Allo!" - Gorden Kaye. He had a piece of wood driven into his forehead by the force of the winds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dbN...eature=related
In view of current events in parts of the USA it's interesting to note that hurricane force winds are not unknown here in Britain. In Novermber 1703 over 4,000 people were killed when a hurricane swept over southern Britain, levelling trees and buildings by the many thousands.
In October 1987 a similar storm swept over the whole of England south and east of a line stretching from east Devon, through the south Midlands up to the Wash on the east coast. Millions of trees were felled and buildings either destroyed or badly damaged. A seaside pier on the Isle of Wight was swept away, others on the south coast badly damaged. Two men sleeping rough in Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London were killed by a falling tree. The town of Sevenoaks, in Kent, became Oneoak over night and six of the ancient oaks toppled like bowling alley pins. Ships were driven ashore in Sussex. 80% of woodland on the North and South Downs of Kent and Sussex were flattened. The huge glass panes of the doors on the west front of Chichester Cathedral were blown in, and it took workmen in the town three weeks to dispose of all the blown down trees which had lined streets and roads in the town.
The hurricane reached full force between midnight and 4am October 15/16, 1987. Early on the evening of the 15th a BBC TV weather forecaster commenced his slot by telling viwers: "Earlier today a woman rang up the BBC to say that a hurricane was on its way to the UK. Don't worry - there isn't!"
Six hours later the south coast and south east of England, the Home Counties and London, and most of East Anglia were savaged by force 12 winds which are officially of hurricane levels.
Amazingly the death toll during this storm was quite low due mainly to the fact that it took place mostly during the early hours of the morning.
The death toll during the Burns Day Storm of 25 January 1990 was much higher at it took place during the daytime, and the severe gales (not quite as strong as the 1987 hurricane) affected much of the UK. One of the severely injured casualties that day was an actor who played the part of a cafe owner in a TV series called "Allo! Allo!" - Gorden Kaye. He had a piece of wood driven into his forehead by the force of the winds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dbN...eature=related
#77
Re: Irene
I was impressed by the amount of stuff the MA state had set up last night in preparation for this, food/water supplies, national guards, all kinds...
Our electric company even called to inform us that we might be without paper, because we're listed with them as having small kids...nice gesture, but whoopy, without a generator, not much we can do about it
The inlaws bought a generator last night as it happens, they've been meaning to buy one for the last couple of months so finally did it, hoping to set it up today as they're not supposed to get hit till quite late where they are in Maine.
they got it more to keep the subpump going as they often lose power in bad rain and the basement floods a bit, but now they have a new furnace, that's a bit bigger, they don't want that getting touched
Our electric company even called to inform us that we might be without paper, because we're listed with them as having small kids...nice gesture, but whoopy, without a generator, not much we can do about it
The inlaws bought a generator last night as it happens, they've been meaning to buy one for the last couple of months so finally did it, hoping to set it up today as they're not supposed to get hit till quite late where they are in Maine.
they got it more to keep the subpump going as they often lose power in bad rain and the basement floods a bit, but now they have a new furnace, that's a bit bigger, they don't want that getting touched
#79
Re: Irene
Hope everyone in Va and NC area are safe, hearing of lots of flooding and damage in and around Aurora NC.
#81
Re: Irene
ETA: just looked at a map and we're a bit East of Altoona :/
Last edited by nethead; Aug 27th 2011 at 5:01 pm.
#82
Re: Irene
Oh no, I never even gave that a thought. We have a sump pump, which has never had to kick in, in our finished basement but don't have a generator in case of an outage. It's too late to get one now, the stores sold out of all 'emergency supplies' two days ago.
#85
Re: Irene
I make a spare time study of the UK climate and the weather patterns of this country, with especial interest in any kind of extreme weather events which do take place here from time to time. The past two winters in the UK were notably colder and snowier than usual, indicating some kind of downward trend in winter temperatures in much of Europe.
In view of current events in parts of the USA it's interesting to note that hurricane force winds are not unknown here in Britain. In Novermber 1703 over 4,000 people were killed when a hurricane swept over southern Britain, levelling trees and buildings by the many thousands.
In October 1987 a similar storm swept over the whole of England south and east of a line stretching from east Devon, through the south Midlands up to the Wash on the east coast. Millions of trees were felled and buildings either destroyed or badly damaged. A seaside pier on the Isle of Wight was swept away, others on the south coast badly damaged. Two men sleeping rough in Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London were killed by a falling tree. The town of Sevenoaks, in Kent, became Oneoak over night and six of the ancient oaks toppled like bowling alley pins. Ships were driven ashore in Sussex. 80% of woodland on the North and South Downs of Kent and Sussex were flattened. The huge glass panes of the doors on the west front of Chichester Cathedral were blown in, and it took workmen in the town three weeks to dispose of all the blown down trees which had lined streets and roads in the town.
The hurricane reached full force between midnight and 4am October 15/16, 1987. Early on the evening of the 15th a BBC TV weather forecaster commenced his slot by telling viwers: "Earlier today a woman rang up the BBC to say that a hurricane was on its way to the UK. Don't worry - there isn't!"
Six hours later the south coast and south east of England, the Home Counties and London, and most of East Anglia were savaged by force 12 winds which are officially of hurricane levels.
Amazingly the death toll during this storm was quite low due mainly to the fact that it took place mostly during the early hours of the morning.
The death toll during the Burns Day Storm of 25 January 1990 was much higher at it took place during the daytime, and the severe gales (not quite as strong as the 1987 hurricane) affected much of the UK. One of the severely injured casualties that day was an actor who played the part of a cafe owner in a TV series called "Allo! Allo!" - Gorden Kaye. He had a piece of wood driven into his forehead by the force of the winds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dbN...eature=related
In view of current events in parts of the USA it's interesting to note that hurricane force winds are not unknown here in Britain. In Novermber 1703 over 4,000 people were killed when a hurricane swept over southern Britain, levelling trees and buildings by the many thousands.
In October 1987 a similar storm swept over the whole of England south and east of a line stretching from east Devon, through the south Midlands up to the Wash on the east coast. Millions of trees were felled and buildings either destroyed or badly damaged. A seaside pier on the Isle of Wight was swept away, others on the south coast badly damaged. Two men sleeping rough in Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London were killed by a falling tree. The town of Sevenoaks, in Kent, became Oneoak over night and six of the ancient oaks toppled like bowling alley pins. Ships were driven ashore in Sussex. 80% of woodland on the North and South Downs of Kent and Sussex were flattened. The huge glass panes of the doors on the west front of Chichester Cathedral were blown in, and it took workmen in the town three weeks to dispose of all the blown down trees which had lined streets and roads in the town.
The hurricane reached full force between midnight and 4am October 15/16, 1987. Early on the evening of the 15th a BBC TV weather forecaster commenced his slot by telling viwers: "Earlier today a woman rang up the BBC to say that a hurricane was on its way to the UK. Don't worry - there isn't!"
Six hours later the south coast and south east of England, the Home Counties and London, and most of East Anglia were savaged by force 12 winds which are officially of hurricane levels.
Amazingly the death toll during this storm was quite low due mainly to the fact that it took place mostly during the early hours of the morning.
The death toll during the Burns Day Storm of 25 January 1990 was much higher at it took place during the daytime, and the severe gales (not quite as strong as the 1987 hurricane) affected much of the UK. One of the severely injured casualties that day was an actor who played the part of a cafe owner in a TV series called "Allo! Allo!" - Gorden Kaye. He had a piece of wood driven into his forehead by the force of the winds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dbN...eature=related
#86
Re: Irene
I thought it was pretty interesting. Maybe it's something to do with your attention span, or the big words he used?
#87
Re: Irene
Was it a siren going off? Apparently we have sirens in our township but have never heard them up to now. We did get hurricane warning emails from our township and power company yesterday.
#88
Re: Irene
It was a phone and cyber alert. Just started raining here. Heard nothing from the power company but as Christie lives by me I'm hoping they'll see him OK.
#90
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,577
Re: Irene
I don't get out of bed for anything less than a category 4.....