A powerful storm, named Eowyn, knocked out power for hundreds of thousands in Ireland and is expected to disrupt travel across Britain on Friday. This storm is the final blow in a weather pattern that has already brought freezing temperatures and record-breaking snow to parts of the United States.
Damaging winds from Eowyn will continue through Friday, with the strongest gusts anticipated in Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, and northern and western regions of England and Wales. Winds are expected to reach 60 to 70 miles per hour, with gusts potentially hitting 100 miles per hour in areas around the Irish Sea and southwest Scotland.
Some forecast models predicted gusts could reach up to 120 mph along the west coast of the Republic of Ireland, equivalent to the sustained winds of a Category 3 hurricane.
By early Friday, the storm had already set new records along the Irish coast. At 5 a.m., a gust of 114 mph was recorded at Mace Head, County Galway, surpassing the previous national record of 113 mph set in 1945.
The winds have been so strong that they have apparently disrupted some efforts to report them: “Severe winds have interrupted data supply from our stations in Belmullet, Mace Head and Markree,” Met Eireann, the Irish weather service,ESB Networks, the state-owned power company, reported on Friday morning that "extreme, damaging, and destructive" winds had caused widespread disruption to Ireland's electricity grid.
As of 6 a.m., over 560,000 customers were without power, accounting for nearly a quarter of the 2.4 million customers served by ESB Networks.
The severity of Storm Eowyn led the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office to issue its most serious red wind warnings for Northern Ireland and central and southwest Scotland. The warning highlighted "very dangerous conditions with widespread disruptions and significant impacts." This marked the first red wind warning for Northern Ireland since the Met Office switched to impact-based warnings in 2011.
Paul Gundersen, a chief meteorologist at the Met Office, stated, “We reserve red warnings for the most extreme weather, which poses a significant danger to life and causes severe disruption, and that is exactly the case with Storm Eowyn.”
On Friday, the Irish meteorological service issued equivalent top-level wind warnings for the entire country.
In addition to strong winds, rain and snow are expected, particularly in the hills of Scotland, northern England, and Northern Ireland.
The Met Office has been naming significant storms since 2015 in partnership with Met Eireann, the Irish weather service, and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute during the autumn and winter months. This storm’s name was selected by the Dutch weather service, which gathered suggestions from the public.
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