UK storm season 2015/16

September 2015 saw the launch of a collaboration between the Met Office and Met Éireann to name wind storms forecast to impact the UK and the Republic or Ireland.

The first named storm was Storm Abigail which moved across the UK on the 12 -13 November.  11 storms were named in total over the 15/16 season and you can find summaries of the storms in the links below.

A-Z of named UK storm names 2015/16

Name	Date named	Date of impact on UK and/or Ireland	Peak gusts and locations
Abigail	10 November 2015	12- 13 November 2015	84mph - South Uist, Outer Hebrides 79mph - Sule Skerry, Orkney 78mph - Lerwick, Shetland Islands 76mph - Benbecula, Outer Hebrides
Barney	16 November 2015	17 - 18 November 2015	85mph - Aberdaron, North Wales 84mph - Capel Curig, North Wales 83mph - High Bradfield, Yorkshire 83mph - Lake Vyrnwy, North Wales
Clodagh	28 November 2015	29 November 2015	97mph - High Bradfield, South Yorkshire 93mph - Capel Curig, Snowdonia 84mph - Lake Vyrnwy, North Wales 79mph - Aberdaron, North Wales
Desmond	4 December 2015	5 - 6 December 2015	81mph - Capel Curig, Gwynedd 78mph - Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight 77mph - High Bradfield, South Yorkshire 73mph - Redesdale Camp, Northumberland
Eva	22 December 2015	24 December 2015	83mph - Capel Curig, Gwynedd 74mph - Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight 70mph - Aberdaron, Gwynedd 68mph - Stornoway, Outer Hebrides 68mph - Mumbles Head, West Glamorgan
Frank	28 December 2015	29 - 30 December 2015	85mph - South Uist, Outer Hebrides 79mph - Altnaharra, Highlands 78mph - Magilligan, Northern Ireland 78mph - Fair Isle, Fair Isle 77mph - Loftus, North Yorkshire
Gertrude	28 January 2016	29 January  2016	105mph - Lerwick, Shetland 105mph - Baltasound, Shetland 97mph - Sella Ness, Shetland 91mph - South Uist, Outer Hebrides 87mph - Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire
Henry	30 January 2016	1 - 2 February 2016	90mph - South Uist, Outer Hebrides 85mph - Benbecula, Outer Hebrides 83mph - Loch Glascarnoch, Garve 81mph - Stornoway, Outer Hebrides
Imogen	7 February 2016	8 February 2016	96mph - Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight 83mph - Pembrey Sands, Dyfed 82mph - Mumbles Head, West Glamorgan 81mph - St Marys, Isle of Scilly
Jake	1 March 2016	2 March 2016	83mph - Mace Head, Devon 81mph - Aberdaron, North Wales 77mph - Neddles Old Battery, Isle of Wight 77mph - Mumbles Head, West Glamorgan
Katie	25 March 2016	27 - 28 March 2016	106mph - Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight 79mph - Portland, Dorset 77mph - Berry Head, Devon 74mph - St Catherines, Isle of Wight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unused storm names from 2015/16

Lawrence, Mary, Nigel, Orla, Phil, Rhonda, Steve, Tegan, Vernon and Wendy.

Storm summaries

Storm Abigail: 12 - 13 November 2015

Storm Abigail brought heavy rain and strong winds across the country with the most severe weather impacting the northwest of Scotland where power cuts affected up to 20,000 homes and many schools were forced to close for the day. The strongest gust recorded was at South Uist measuring 84 mph.

Storm Barney: 17 - 18 November 2015

Storm Barney swept across southern parts of the UK relatively quickly on the afternoon of the 17 November into the morning of the 18 November, bringing wind gusts up to 85 mph.  

The strong winds brought several impacts with more than 3,000 homes in Derbyshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire without electricity over night. In Wales 6,000 homes were left without electricity for a short period. Fallen trees across the country caused delays to road and rail travel.

In the run up to the storm, Neil Davies of the Environment Agency warned against taking 'storm selfies' saying "the power of Mother Nature is a fascination to us all - and taking storm 'selfies' may seem exhilarating - but over the last few years we've had an increasing number of people putting themselves and family members at severe risk along coastal paths and promenades."

Storm Clodagh: 29 November 2015

Storm Clodagh was named by Met Éireann as a low pressure system that moved in bringing strong winds to the Republic of Ireland and the UK. As forecast, impacts were most severe in the Republic of Ireland as gusts of more than 70 mph left 3,500 people without electricity.

The strong winds caused transport disruption with fallen trees blocking roads and railway lines in the North of England and several cancellations across Scotland.

Storm Desmond: 5-6 December 2015

Storm Desmond the fourth named storm of the season brought severe gales with gusts up to 81 mph.  This was accompanied by record-breaking rainfall which brought flooding to areas across the north of England.

Honister Pass in Cumbria recorded 341.4 mm of rainfall in the 24-hours up to 1800 GMT on 5 December 2015 making a new UK record.

The same period of rainfall also set a new 48-hour record (from 0900 to 0900 hrs) with 405 mm rainfall recorded at Thirlmere in Cumbria in just 38 hours.

The record-breaking rainfall associated with Storm Desmond caused severe disruption flooding 5,200 homes across Lancashire and Cumbria. Several major roads across the north of England and Scotland were flooded and there was major disruption to rail services in the north of England while a landslide closed a section of the West Coast mainline between Preston and Carlisle. 43,000 homes across north-east England were left without power and on 5 December 61,000 homes in Lancaster lost power when the electrical substation was flooded.

Storm Eva: 24 December 2015

Storm Eva, the fifth named storm of the season, was named on the 22 December 2015 by Met Eireann and proceeded to move across the UK bringing gales across Ireland and the northwest of the UK on 24 December. The storm came on top of existing disruption where Storm Desmond had already brought heavy rainfall and flooding to Cumbria.

Storm Frank: 29-30 December 2015

A spell of wet and windy weather from 29 - 30 December 2015 affected parts of the UK as Storm Frank, the sixth named storm of the season arrived. Storm Frank brought gales to western parts of the UK with gusts as high as 85 mph in northwest Scotland. The storm resulted in further flooding across the UK and caused disruption to transport and infrastructure in affected areas.

Storm Gertrude: 29 January 2016

Storm Gertrude brought strong winds to Scotland and Northern England with a red warning for wind issued for the Shetland Islands where gusts of up to 105 mph were recorded.

Storm Henry: 1-2 February 2016

Storm Henry was named just one day after Storm Gertrude affected the UK. It brought strong winds across Scotland with the strongest gusts recorded in the Outer Hebrides where South Uist saw a gust of 90 mph. The storm led to transport disruption with roads shut and train and ferry routes also impacted as wind was accompanied by heavy rain. Around 3,00 households were left without electricity overnight and both the Tay Road and Forth Road bridges were closed for a time.

Storm Imogen: 8 February 2016

The winds associated with Storm Imogen were strongest across southern England and south Wales where widespread travel delays occurred and 3,000 homes were left without power.

Storm Jake: 2 March 2016

Storm Jake saw strong winds across south-west England and Wales with a peak gust of 83 mph recorded at Mace Head. Impacts were most widely felt across South Wales and South-west England with power outages, falling trees and tiles blown from houses causing disruption and some road closures.

Storm Katie: 27-28 March 2016

Storm Katie was the eleventh storm of the season with strong gusts and heavy rainfall experienced over a busy bank holiday weekend. On the evening of Sunday 27 March 2016 Storm Katie tracked across southern Britain and moved out into the North sea by midday on Easter Monday.

A peak wind speed of 106 mph was recorded on the exposed Needles of Isle of Wight, but gusts of 70 - 80 mph along the coast and 50 - 70 mph inland were more widely experienced. The strong winds brought widespread impacts across southern England including damage to trees and structures and disruption to transport with bridge closed and flights, ferries and trains cancelled. Across the south of England, over 100,000 power outages were recorded.