European windstorm
Satellite picture of a European windstorm.
A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic
windstorm associated with areas of low pres-
sure that track across the North Atlantic to-
wards northwestern Europe. They are most
common in the winter months. Deep low
pressure areas are relatively common over
the over North Atlantic and frequently track
past the north coast of the United Kingdom
onto the Norwegian Sea. However, when
they veer south they can affect almost any
country in Europe. Commonly-affected coun-
tries include Ireland, the United Kingdom,
and Norway, but basically any country in
central, northern and especially western
Europe is occasionally struck by such a storm
system.
These storms cause economic damage of
€1.9 billion per year, and insurance losses of
€1.4 billion per year (1990-1998). They rank
as the second highest cause of global natural
catastrophe
insurance
loss
(after U.S.
hurricanes).
Several European languages use the word
Ouragan or cognates thereof to indicate par-
ticularly strong European windstorms. "Our-
agan" derives from the Mayan god Huracan,
also the source of the word hurricane.
List
Historic and notorious European
storms
Severe European windstorms
between 1900 and 1999
Severe European windstorms
since 2000
See also
• Beaufort scale (10-12 and up)
• European windstorm names
• Extratropical cyclone
• Great Gale
• Great Storm
• List of natural disasters in the United
Kingdom
• List of United Kingdom disasters by death
toll
• Nor’easter
• Severe weather
• Tropical cyclone
References
[1] "The Tay Bridge Disaster".
http://taybridgedisaster.co.uk/. Retrieved
on 2007-09-03.
[2] "1961 Hurricane/Tropical Data for
Atlantic". http://weather.unisys.com/
hurricane/atlantic/1961/. Retrieved on
2007-09-03.
[3] "A Stormy Night on Fair Isle".
http://www.zetnet.co.uk/sigs/weather/
highlights/jan23-94.html. Retrieved on
2007-09-03.
[4] "EUSF". http://europa.eu/rapid/
pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/
07/
1301&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiL
Retrieved on 2008-11-04.
External li