AIBU to be surprised that all of London's Royal Parks are closed today because of the wind?

[Westfacing]

In a statement on its website, the Royal Parks said:

Due to severe wind gusts caused by Storm Amy, all of the royal parks, plus Brompton Cemetery and Victoria Tower Gardens will be closed on Saturday October 4.
This closure includes all park roads and cycleways, cafes and kiosks, parks sports venues, the Serpentine lido and boating lake, and the royal parks shop.
It said opening times on Sunday will be delayed because of safety inspections.
“The safety of visitors and staff is our top priority,” the Royal Parks said.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience that these closures may cause.”

A bit of an over reaction I'd say, or am I missing something? I've been out and there are gusty winds but not dangerously so.

I understand that trees get blown down and that's a safety concern, even so....

Yabu, you don’t have to be hiking around or be busy 24/7. I’m in London and it’s quite windy. And being injured is a big concern for most I would think.

Other parks are open! Why only the Royal Parks?

I think they’re terrified of being sued if someone is hit by a falling tree branch, and presumably don’t have the resources to actually be monitoring all the trees.

I have noticed a real uptick in park closures due to wind in the last couple of years - it did happen before as a rarity, but it seems quite frequent now. We have a non-royal park close to us closed today too.

Kew Gardens seems to be shut several times a year for wind.

There's a storm warning with 50mph gusts forecast, so a significant safety concern. They'll be thinking about their liability in the case of an accident from falling branches and such.

There are lots of very big, very old trees in the royal parks. The public can't be trusted to follow advice and stay away from them, so the parks management are being sensible. It's a shame but it is one day, and this way no will die or get injured and blame someone else.

They will be protecting themselves from the possibility of trees or branches falling and causing accidents alongside a genuine desire to keep people safe.

Yep, you beat me to it but I was just going to post that there are gusts of up to 50 mph forecast for Heathow and London City pretty much from now right through to early evening.

I suspect it's in response to this tragedy that recently happened, where a little girl was killed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0k77m8r8n2o

Someone died due to the weather caused by Storm Amy in Ireland yesterday. DH was delayed over 2 hours, and DD over 5 hours, getting home from Amsterdam (different flights due to plans changing). And it was quite wild here in Brussels on the outer edges last night, so they had closed the park near me as well (and probably the others but I wasn’t going out to check).

Lots of branches are down in Dublin this morning

It's a sensible decision made on the basis of fatalities.

Until the last couple of years, I did some conservation work and would go around dealing with smaller branches of trees that overhung footpaths towards the end of summer. Once you've felt how the branch of a perfectly healthy looking, strong Oak tree can just break off and crash to the ground with just the slightest pressure, not even a cut, from a polesaw touching the point where the tension from the bark is at its highest, it becomes very clear why strong winds after a dry summer when trees can shed make it a significant risk.

There was a death at Kew Gardens after heavy storms: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/16/woman-killed-falling-branch-kew-gardens-coroners-court-accidental-death

There was also a young woman killed by a falling tree in Manchester last month. In the country park near me a massive rotten bough fell across a path on a non-windy day last week and would have killed someone.

As trees get old they can be more prone to disease, or weak roots, and it doesn’t take much for them to get blown over. Parks being closed is for good reason.

So go to the other parks and stop moaning on

They are more diligent about their responsibilities to the public and the scope of their insurance policy!

A lot of trees down around us. Very sensible. The other parks should follow suit.

So why are you moaning? Go to them and get hit by a falling tree.

Half a large tree fell beside a house in our estate! Literally missed the house itself by inches. No one injured thankfully and the lady who owns the house wasn’t at home so her car wasn’t damaged. Her garden wall is in bits though.

Forgot to say this is in Dublin 8!

I'm not moaning - just commenting.

YABU I live near a royal park and you can see the real damage after storms like these, it's a sensible thing to do.

Because clearly they are more worried about being sued and peoples safety than others

We’ve also had a very warm summer. There’s some
evidence that trees in the uk are increasingly “dropping” branches after heat stress thanks to climate change, and the mechanism they do this by, is cutting off water supply to limbs which weakens them and they fall. There may be quite a lot of branches that have been weakened but not fallen, that will go in the high winds.

I'm surpised that you are surprised @Westfacing !

Few yrs ago, I was at a NatTrust property on windy day (with hailstorms). There were loud cracks as large branches came down. Me & teen DS were talking about whether you'd have any time to flee if you heard the crack, before the branch hit you. Walking thru a local park last night I took similar risks, was very windy, under mature trees.

I understand the parks for closing during high wind conditions.