A strong gale in England, Scotland and Ireland. And a few gusts in the west of France. During the night of this Thursday to Friday January 24, storm Éowyn, a “weather bomb”will hit the United Kingdom, Météo France announces on its website. Gusts “violent” are expected, which may exceed “130 km/h in a fairly generalized manner” and even 150 km/h locally.
The United Kingdom is placed on a state of alert, and the Met Office weather agency has issued a rare red alert for Northern Ireland and parts of southern and central Scotland. This is the first time that such an alert has been issued in Northern Ireland since this system was put in place in 2011. Rail traffic and buses will not run. This level of vigilance is “reserved for the most severe events which represent a probable risk to life (of the population) and serious disturbances”said Met Office chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen. “It will be a dangerous, destructive weather event that will cause damage”warned the head of the emergency coordination group Keith Leonard as Éowyn approached.
In Scotland, Parliament will not sit and schools will be closed in most areas. Train operator ScotRail canceled all its trains on Friday, saying on X that“it would not be safe to operate its passenger transport services due to the forecast weather conditions”. The entire territory of the Republic of Ireland is also the subject of a red alert, decreed by the Met Eireann organization.
The most violent since Ciaran
In France, we are not at such levels of concern. But the storm will be felt, on a lesser scale, in the North-West early in the morning this Friday and should last until early afternoon. In the Normandy and Breton coast and as far as Pas-de-Calais, the winds may exceed “Sometimes” 80 to 90 km/h, explains Météo France. Heavy rain could last until Saturday morning, “particularly between Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Normandy where we can have up to 40 to 50 mm locally”.
-This storm is sudden since a “powerful cyclogenesis”namely, explains Meteo France, the “birth and extremely rapid development of depression” takes place this Thursday on the Atlantic. This “weather bomb” is formed with the arrival of cold air from the American continent which moves over the western Atlantic. In recent days, the United States has been hit by a polar cold wave. Up to -30 degrees were felt locally.
The storm promises to be the most violent since storm Ciaran in November 2023. The latter caused a lot of damage and led to the death of four people in France and 23 people in Europe.
France
