Storm Eunice had winds of hurricane force, at least for a period of time, however it has usually been referred to as a storm or a winter storm, despite its hurricane-force winds. Rather of developing from a tropical storm into a hurricane, the storm began as a cold front in the Atlantic Ocean and proceeded through explosive cyclogenesis, which is frequently referred to as a “weather bomb” phenomenon.
The word “hurricane” refers to tropical cyclones that originate in the North Atlantic or North Pacific, whereas the phrase “great storm” refers to storms that have produced hurricane-gusting winds in recent years but are not yet classified as hurricanes. Hurricanes, on the other hand, have a considerably different wind profile and distribution from storms, as well as substantially greater rainfall levels, although this does not rule out the possibility of storms having equally violent winds.
The Burns Day Storm, also known as Cyclone Daria, was an extraordinarily powerful windstorm that occurred from the 25th to the 26th of January 1990 in Northern Europe’s westernmost region, which we still remember today.
It is one of the most powerful European windstorms ever recorded in the continent’s history. Due to the fact that storms were not given names at the time, several titles were given to this storm. It was on the birthday of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, on the 25th of January, therefore the storm’s moniker.
The greatest wind gusts reached 172 kilometres per hour in speed. Despite the fact that it is known as one of the worst, the Great Storm of October 1987 had been far worse, with gusts exceeding 200 kilometres per hour. Because the brunt of the storm occurred at night, there were fewer fatalities than in 1990, and we don’t have comprehensive wind strength data because the instruments that were supposed to record the wind were without power for several hours. We do, however, have a complete wind speed data set from 1990.
Winter storms that originate in the Atlantic arrive in the British Isles on a yearly basis, and residents of the British Isles become accustomed to them, particularly those who live in Cornwall or on the west coast of Ireland. Great storms likeย Eunice, on the other hand, occur relatively infrequently.