LONDON — Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland are preparing for an exceptionally powerful storm, as meteorological experts warn of rare hurricane-strength winds and potential threats to life.
The national weather services in both Ireland and the U.K. issued urgent alerts on Thursday pertaining to Storm Éowyn, which is anticipated to reach the Irish coastline in the early hours of Friday before moving on towards Scotland.
With wind gusts expected to reach around 100 mph (161 kph), authorities are advising residents to reconsider any travel arrangements, while numerous schools in the affected regions have opted to suspend operations for the day.
Ireland’s Met Éireann has put forth an unusual nationwide red alert for wind, valid from 2 a.m. to 10 p.m. The agency has warned of potential “danger to life,” life-threatening travel conditions, and even the risk of coastal flooding.
Eoin Sherlock from Met Éireann remarked, “We haven’t seen wind speeds like these forecasted in many years. Those residing in island areas need to exercise extreme caution, as we expect hurricane-level winds.”
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group of Ireland stated that this storm could be among the “most severe” to impact the nation in recent history.
Likewise, the U.K.’s Met Office has also released a red wind warning for Northern Ireland and central and southwestern regions of Scotland for Friday.
In light of the storm’s impending approach, the government has announced that approximately 4.5 million individuals in the storm’s trajectory will receive an emergency alert on their mobile phones at 6 p.m. on Thursday. This represents the largest activation of the emergency warning system to date, ensuring that phones will emit a loud siren sound, regardless of their setting.
Paul Gundersen, the chief meteorologist at the agency, stated, “We reserve these red warnings for the most severe weather that poses a genuine threat to life and significant disruption, and that’s exactly the situation with Storm Éowyn.”
Gundersen further mentioned that wind speeds might reach 80-90 mph in many areas, with exposed coastlines potentially experiencing gusts up to 100 mph. The highest recorded gust in Northern Ireland stands at 124 mph, which occurred in County Down in January 1974.
This marks the first red warning issued for Northern Ireland since the Met Office introduced impact-based warnings in 2011. All schools within Northern Ireland have been advised to close their doors on Friday.
“It’s crucial to stress that a red warning signals a very serious situation. It indicates a real threat to life and property, leading to significant disruptions in travel and potential power outages due to the severity of conditions,” stated Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill.
The Met Office warning will be effective from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Northern Ireland, while parts of southern Scotland will be under warning from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney announced that police would issue a formal “do not travel” notice for areas under the red weather warning.
“We need to make it clear: people should avoid traveling,” he advised.
Numerous schools across various Scottish local authorities will close for the day, including all schools in Glasgow, and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh will also be shuttered.
Disruptions are anticipated throughout the rest of the U.K., including England and Wales, as all regions are expected to be under at least one alert at some stage on Friday.
“It’s worth noting that even regions outside the immediate red warning areas may encounter disruptive weather, leading to issues with travel and potential power outages for some,” Gundersen added.
The storm’s intensity is partly traced back to a weather system that brought historic snowfall to the Gulf Coast of the U.S., according to Jason Nicholls, lead international meteorologist at AccuWeather.
The upcoming storm is driven by the jet stream and bolstered by energy from the upper atmosphere. A rapid decrease in air pressure could transform Éowyn into a bomb cyclone, characterized by a 24-millibar pressure drop within 24 hours.
Experts suggest that while understanding the precise impact of climate change on any given storm remains complex, storms are occurring in an atmosphere warming rapidly due to human-generated pollutants like carbon dioxide and methane.
Nicholls mentioned, “It’s difficult to determine how much climate change contributed to the storm. It seems more about the alignment of various conditions that enabled it to strengthen quickly.”
Suzanne Gray, a meteorology professor at the University of Reading, noted that “trends in storm frequency in the U.K. haven’t conclusively shown a direct link to climate change,” although research indicates that “winter storms could become more regular and clustered in the future, meaning several storms might happen sequentially.”
