What to expect from storm season in the UK
- Written by
Stephanie Hendries- Published
- December 4, 2024
Autumn and winter in the UK are frequently marked by stormy weather, including heavy rain, strong winds, and sometimes snow. This can lead to travel delays, flooding, damage to homes and businesses, and power outages.
In Autumn 2024, we started the storm season in October with Storm Ashley followed in November by Storm Bert, then Storm Conall, the latter two weather events causing significant damage.
Storm Bert brought with it torrential rain and had devastating impacts, with many areas of Wales experiencing extreme flooding. Overall, over 500 homes and businesses were flooded across England and Wales. In Worcestershire, the failure of a flood wall highlighted the extreme nature of Storm Bert. A few days later Storm Conall brought heavy rain to parts of southeast England, causing less damage than Bert, but still halting transport links, including key railway lines.
Storm Darragh is currently sweeping in from the Atlantic and is set to hit Ireland over the first weekend of December. The storm is also expected to hit Wales and bring with it a deluge of rain and gale-force winds, which could cause further destruction to an area which has experienced devastating flooding already.
Over in the US, this year’s hurricane season is officially ending and this year it surprised many forecasters. The season began with Storm Alberto, then Storm Darren. They were closely followed by Hurricane Beryl, which became the first Category 5 storm in the Atlantic Ocean in June.
From mid-August to early September, there was an unexpected lull, with no named storms forming during that period—the first time this has occurred since 1968. However, a few weeks later, storm activity roared back to life and hurricanes Helene and Milton struck, causing billions in damage.
Hurricane Helene was the worst of the season, destroying over 126,000 homes, mainly in the North Carolina region. Total losses, from both wind and flooding, range between $30.5 billion and $47.5 billion. In addition, 230 people lost their lives in the hurricane, this was mostly attributed to extensive and severe flooding.