Yesterday's storm was a pussy cat

[Len W]

Compared to Low Arne (as named by thr Germans but not our Met Office!) on 2 November this year, yesterday's storm was just a regular gale.

Peak gust was 62 mph at Plymouth Mount Batten compared to 83 mph on 2 Nov. Huge amount of more damage caused by Arne, trees down, roof tiles missing...

Nothing like that this time.

It just shows, as has been mentioned many times on here and elsewhere, that the the storm naming system of Met Office and Eirean service is not fit for purpose.

Why was the 2 Nov storm not named?

Because the Irish did not see it as a threat?

and/or, an explosively deeping depression from that direction was not well forecast by the models?

Len

Wembury

[Graham Easterling]

I think you're being a bit unfair Len.

Strongest gusts in Penzance since Feb 16.  92mph @ Gwennap Head, 79mph inland at Bosullow etc. so it was a decent gale.

SWH 9m at Sevenstones, the highest of the Autumn / Winter, combined with a long period made it the most powerful so far, some really nasty sea conditions.

It was typical of a NW gale, where the wind flow is compressed around the Penwith peninsula. A bit like March 2008, though not as bad, that was the gale of the century here. You suffer more in a SW gale. No pussycat here. Also hail & thunder.

Graham

Penzance.

[Len W]

What was the impact Graham?

No good talking about out of the way places like Gwennap Head.

As regards naming storms, Met Office go on impact to larger populations like Plymouth, 250,000.

Len

Wembury

[Graham Easterling]

Well, there was part of a tree in my garden, rail services were delayed, the A30 was blocked in at least a couple of places yesterday evening, it was the biggest sea of the year at Sevenstones, the strongest gusts at my site since 2016, roads were closed in Bude due to damage to buildings, all train services to Looe were cancelled (trees down), 100s of homes without in west Cornwall yesterday evening, almost the strongest gust on record at nearby Bosullow, some of the squalls included hail & lightning, lorries blown over blocking the road on Bodmin Moor, a Sainsbury's roof blown off, etc. etc.  . . . I don't know what more you want!

I think a yellow warning was more than justified, many places in the far SW saw the strongest gusts of this Autumn / Winter. If this wasn't of note, than nothing else has been in recent months.

Plymouth is some way away and not exposed to a NW gale, therefore you missed out. In the same way as a storm creating significant issues in Dawlish, can go relatively unnoticed in Newquay. 

Take it from me, I'm a bit of a storm chaser, (photos on request!) and this was a good one. Shame it was dark during this one.

Graham

Penzance

[Graham Easterling]

I made a mistake, it was 1000s of home across Cornwall without power, not 100s..

Even this morning, 12 hours after the strongest gusts

"8:40am

Power Cuts

Homes across Cornwall are still experiencing power cuts in the wake of Storm Atiyah.

At one point on Sunday night, thousands suffered outages around Camborne, Probus and St Ives.

Dozens are cut off near St Agnes, Maenporth, Tregony, Indian Queens, Millendreath, Downderry and just over the border at Lifton."

You can add many smaller places to that list (like Sennen & Pendeen) but most importantly many webcams were down this morning!

Graham

[Len W]

My main point was, no warning for 2nd November though.

Len