Extreme winds hit parts of UK, pushing Arctic air toward Europe

Powerful winds brought by Storm Arwen affected a wide swathe of the United Kingdom on November 26 and 27, 2021, leaving as many as 143 000 customers without power. The storm is now pushing frigid Arctic air toward Europe and bringing snow to Spain.

As expected, the storm brought powerful winds, heavy rain, and snow falling and settling on some roads across southern England and the Midlands on Saturday.

The strongest gusts were recorded in Brizlee Wood, Northumberland at 158 km/h (98 mph), Berry Head, Devon at 148 km/h (92 mph), and Orlock Head, County Down at 140 km/h (87 mph).¹

As many as 80 000 customers were left without power in Scotland, with the vast majority of the outages concentrating in Moray, Aberdeenshire, and Angus, according to Scottish and Southern Electricity Network.

The UK Northern Power Grid reported outages for 55 000 customers, mainly in Northumberland, County Durham, and Tyne and Wear. There were also some outages in Northern Ireland.²

About 120 lorries became stuck in the snow near Rochdale while one man died after a tree struck his car in Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The UK Met Office added a rare red weather warning for wind to existing amber and yellow wind warnings on November 26, with coastal areas on the east coast of Scotland and the northeast of England set to see the most disruptive winds.

Arwen is expected to shift away into the continent later on Saturday, bringing snow to parts of Spain and cold Arctic air to the rest of Europe.

Heavy snow has already fallen over Valladolid and Palencia, Castilla y León, on November 26. The region can expect as much as 35 cm (14 inches) of snow in areas above 800 and 1 000 m (2 600 – 3 280 feet) today.

References:

¹ UK Met Office – Twitter

² Storm Arwen: Man dies as gale-force winds hit UK – BBC

Teo Blašković

Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.

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