Amazing pictures of the Fratton Park storm. They should have bought their sub on! (sorry!!)

Ok, I no longer care about the storms as I have found the source of the leak on my car (I hope).

Ironically, the rainwater entered the car as the drainage channels from the sun roof were blocked by leaves. How's that for a weather related car problem???

You are forgiven for the 'sub' joke SOT. It was appropriate given the circumstances, you might want to dispense with the sunroof or at least clean the leaves from it over the next few days !!

In the past Iv'e been lucky enough to travel quite widely and have experienced first hand all kinds of extreme weather, but that storm over Fratton Park and Portsmouth on Tuesday night is on a par with anything I have ever witnessed.

Moley

The Met Office have today issued an Amber Warning for London and The South East regarding the potential for a significant Autumn storm to affect the region overnight Sunday and into Monday. Link to the warning here:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... ionName=se

Below is a link to a video forecast:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/24655853

I find the Met Office warning system can be a bit confusing to be honest, but in essence what they are saying on this occasion is that whilst the risk of this storm developing to these levels is low to medium, if it does develop, the impact on the areas in the warning zone will be medium to high. Ie: Damage to property, trees and power lines down, and significant disruption to travel.

The warning is effective from 00:05 hrs - 21:00 hrs Monday October 28th 2013, and the Monday morning rush hour(s) could be particularly troublesome if this comes to fruition. The Met Office will no doubt be updating information over the next few days so please tune in to local forecasts and travel information.

Moley.

Edited by Moley to include further information from The Met Office in the link below:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releas ... storm-risk

The met office have been well off the mark recently for anything over 24hrs away.

They seem to warn about stuff coming our way from Cornwall and Devon and then it turns left and heads for Gloucestershire (best place for it).

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

***UPDATED FRIDAY OCTOBER 25th 2013 @ 20:40 Hrs***

Regarding the potential Autumn Storm the Met Office extended the Amber Warning area earlier this morning, to include London and regions to the north of us:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... ionName=se

The warning is primarily for potentialy damaging winds.

Some of the usual printed media suspects have gone for sensational headlines rather than presenting actual facts as they are currently known. They should be ashamed of themselves, but of course they won't be. The fear amongst genuine weather watchers and the experts is that these papers will cry wolf once too often, and they are doing untold damage to the publics faith in genuine forecasts.

My personal opinion is that the major players are now all pretty much in agreement that London and The South East is in line for a significant Autumn Storm overnight Sunday into Monday, but the full extent is still far from certain.

As always it is worth tuning in to local forecasts nearer the time, and I will hopefully be updating links here which I hope are useful.

Be aware, be prepared, but most of all, stay informed.

Moley

Perhaps worth a mention, a new date record was set today, Friday October 25th 2013.

The previous record for the highest maximum temperature in the UK on this date was 19.4c at Bude in Cornwall in 1913. Exactly 100 years later the record was surpassed at:

Gravesend, Kent : 19.6c
St James Park, London : 19.5c

Moley

Yes, they are going down the lines of comparing this with 1987 and 1990. This is one of the snags when we retain warm temperatures in late October.

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

Thanks for these figures as I work in Westminster, not far from St James Park and went for a walk over lunchtime. Obviously I took my coat as it's October, but it was like a proper (UK) summer's day out there.

Thanks for the info on the storm of the century (according to Fleet St!!) as I am already a little concerned about getting into work on Monday morning

***UPDATED SATURDAY OCTOBER 26th 2013 @ 17:30 Hrs***

Below is a copy and paste of a post made earlier on one of the weather websites I am a member of. I don't know who the poster is, so cannot vouch for it's authenticity or accuracy but apart from one or two obvious errors, it does sound a feasable outcome :

Quote: <<< I've just come out of a teleconference with various airports, air traffic control and the Met Office regarding the situation Sunday night in to Monday morning. The current industry specific breif is as follows:



The low should be in or around the Bristol channel (Southwest Approaches) by 2100 Sunday moving NE. At 0600 Monday its expected to be Cardigan Bay with a central pressure of 966mb still moving NE. It should clear the Lincolnshire coast by 1200. Anywhere inland south of a line drawn Plymouth to Norwich should see winds of 35-40KT (40-50mph) with occasional gusts up to 60KT (70mph). Exposed hills and coastal locations along the south coast could see a mean wind of 50-60KT with gusts in the 70-80KT region between the hours of 0400-1000. There is also an "outside chance" of somewhere seeing in excess of 80KTS (92mph) for a short while, most likely somewhere along the Dorset coast across to Kent.

Any storm surge/swell along the south coast should be around 6ft above the mean. We are in the neap tide range, so tides are not as high.

The estimate is that this low should be around 20mb less and on average around 20-30KTS less severe than the 1987 storm.

Information above is accurate as of 1430 this afternoon. >>> : Unquote



Personally I am still more inclined to go along with the Met Office predictions at this time, and they again updated their warnings earlier this morning, link below for London and The South East:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... ionName=se

Please note this latest warning has raised the probability of this storm occurring and impacting our region, hence the warning is now one step below a RED. That was to be expected as the computer models moved into what is known as the reliable time frame, IE: much higher resolutions. It does NOT neccessarily mean the storm will be any more severe, just more likely to happen.

My advice at this time is to take the normal sensible precautions. Secure and make safe any loose items of garden furniture, bins etc and be aware that any weak or damaged trees may present a hazard.

I will be updating this topic, but once again thanks for reading and posting.

Moley

This certainly seems serious. I shall take your advice and remove anything that moves & allow extra time for travel on Monday. Thank you.