Record-breaking Storm Amy hits the U.K. with ferocious winds
The intense storm set pressure and wind records across the United Kingdom
A ferocious windstorm swept through the United Kingdom to start the weekend, snapping trees and shattering records across the region.
The system formed from the remnants of Hurricane Humberto, which was once a Category 5 hurricane in the western Atlantic basin.
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Storm Amy slams the United Kingdom
Humberto’s remnants intensified into a very powerful low-pressure system as they approached the United Kingdom to end the week.
Storm Amy brought the U.K. its all-time lowest October air pressure on Saturday as the centre of the system clipped northern Scotland.
Baltasound on Scotland’s Shetland Islands saw its air pressure bottom-out at 947.9 hPa, equivalent to what we’d expect to see at the centre of a formidable hurricane.
Powerful winds sweep the region
The storm’s tight pressure gradient allowed wicked winds to blow through much of the U.K. through the day Saturday.
A wind gust of 148 km/h in Magilligan was preliminarily the strongest wind gust ever recorded in Northern Ireland during the month of October, according to the Met Office. A stronger gust of 154 km/h was recorded in the Scotland community of Tiree.
BBC News reported Saturday evening that more than 40,000 homes and businesses had lost power across Scotland amid extensive tree damage throughout the region.
See some of the scenes and damage from Storm Amy across the U.K., below
Header image courtesy NASA/NOAA.