Home / Editor's Pick /

On this day: Great Storm of 1987

07:00
15 October 2023

On this day
Great Storm of 1987

Emmetts House and Garden, Ide Hill in Kent after The Great Storm of 1987, October 16thEmmetts House and Garden, Ide Hill in Kent after The Great Storm of 1987, October 16th - © picture alliance

On this day, 36 years ago, one of the worst storms in history struck the United Kingdom.

The Great Storm of 1987 was a powerful extra-tropical cyclone that occurred on the night of October 15th 1987. It developed as a rapidly deepening depression over the Bay of Biscay.

Whilst not a hurricane, due to it not forming in the tropics, it did produce hurricane-force winds across the UK, gusting up to 100mph and producing widespread devastation.

The highest recorded wind speed gust was 115mph at Shoreham on the Sussex coast. The storm is referred to as a one in 200 year event, and is reportedly the worst storm since 1703.

As a result of the damaging winds, 15 million trees were blown down, and sadly there were 18 fatalities in England.

Thousands of homes were also without power for over 24 hours. In addition, a ship was blown over in Dover, and a Channel ferry was blown ashore.

However, changes were made to improve observational coverage of the atmosphere in the wake of this devastating storm.

The quality and quantity of observations produced by ships, aircraft, buoys and satellites were increased, namely to the south and west of the UK, whilst refinements were also made to the computer models used in forecasting.

Hurricanes in the British Isles?read more
Weather & Radar editorial team
More on the topic
Tuesday 1 July 2025

Captured by you

June in pictures
Saturday 28 June 2025

Grab the sun cream

High UV levels to end the week
Monday 30 June 2025

Noctilucent cloud season

Shimmering clouds over UK and Ireland
All weather news
This might also interest you
Tuesday 1 July 2025

Breakfast brief

Heat reaches a peak, cloudy in places
Monday 30 June 2025

Take precautions

Heatwave takes grip once again
Friday 20 June 2025

Breakfast brief

More cloud cover, remaining widely warm
All articles
Weather & Radar

www.weatherandradar.ie

facebooktwitteryouTubeContact uslinkList
Privacy Policy | Legal info | Accessibility statement