Prime TV 9.35 tonight

[spwill]

TV show about the 1987 wind storm over Southern England, might be worth a watch.

[NZstorm]

Famous blooper by the Met Office TV man at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqs1YXfdtGE&feature=fvw

[spwill]

This programe was a bit slow and boring. One of the weather forecasters was suggesting the lack of warning for this storm helped save lives and property.

[NZstorm]

Yes, I watched it for about 10minutes. For the defence of Michael Fish, the weather modeling back then wouldn't have been anything like it is today. The home user today has access to more sophisticated weather modeling than the scientific institutions had back in 1987!

[spwill]

I seem to recall the very strong winds were in the forecast several days out so there was a lot of talk in the public about very strong winds being on the way but the forecast changed the day before ( downgraded) hence the comment by weatherman Michael Fish to a TV viewer about no Hurricane being on the way. I was living in NW London at the time and we lost quite a few large trees along our street.

[NZstorm]

The town of Seven Oaks in kent become no oaks!

[Michael]

I can remember it october 1987 but didnt have the tellie on last night.

[Manukau heads obs]

Michael Fish was taken out of context, as he was answering a question from a women in Texas about if there was a hurricane on the way (for Texas).
I met Michael Fish when was in the UK and that is what he told me

[spwill]

You are right Brian, found this clip,Michael Fish explanation at the end
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iuQjGy2qZA&NR=1

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Poor old Micheal Fish.
Didn't he get some sort of accolade for his services to weather/meteorology?

JohnGaul
NZThS

[Simon Culling]

This was indeed a noteworthy weather event for the UK, and certainly in the top 5 or so must destructive events since the 2nd World War, on a par with the cold winters of 1947 and 1962/63, the hot summer of 1976, the North Sea Flood of 1953 and the london Smog of 1952 etc. It is always difficult to measure events against one another, but this gives some idea.

The reason why there were so few fatalities was that the peak of the winds occured between midnight and 6am, so most people were in bed. For the doom mongers among you, dont forget that this weather event occured on 16th October, the day the stock market crash began on Wall St.

This link gives some more detailed meteorological details.

http://www.rms.com/Publications/Great_Storm_of_1987.pdf

The gust of 122mph mentioned in this report at Gorleston on the Norfolk coast is not accepted as genuine due to problems with the anenometer. The official highest gust in the UK was 115mph at Shoreham Airport.

[Simon Culling]

Michael Fish has made a bit of a living out of this notoriety.....it certainly hasnt affected his employment prospects. That said, he was technically correct...there was not a 'Hurricane on the way', just a storm with hurricane force winds, i.e. average speeds of >64kts. I remember the weekly forecast from the previous sunday which was transmitted for farmers and growers, and it stated that it will be 'very windy' at the end of the week. Thats not a bad 5 day forecast for nearly 25 years ago.

The Met Office admitted that they underestimated this particular storm, but we must remember it was 23 years ago and the computing power available was nothing like what we have now. The French Met people frequently brag that they correctly predicted this storm, but that is simply not true. They were just as suprised as we were to record winds well in excess of 100mph.

[NZstorm]

I see Michael Fish still does forecasting on you tube in his retirement. And I have seen him out on the plains in the US storm chasing with Netweather.

[spwill]

The only photo of mine I can find, I lived in the house at the end of the street. The odd big tree down was a common site across leafy North London.