Storm Isha - named by the Met Office.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2024-01-21

I think this is the earliest in the season that we have reached the letter 'I' in the met office naming system. The previous record being Storm Imogen on 8 Feb 2016.
Its certainly been an active season so far.

Amber warnings for wind for some parts, yellow for the rest, with widespread gales possible across the UK. Some fairly worrying flood concerns too where lots of rain will fall during a rapid snow and ice melt onto frozen ground.

All seems well in the local area to dd (red warning). There are a couple of trees down, but power is on.

Doubtless v bad in some areas but imho the Met Office is now too keen to issue Orange/Red warnings etc because they don't want a repeat of Michael Fish's infamous "is there was a hurricane on the way?"

"Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!"

If power companies/Openreach did more preventative tree work, most of these storms would go un noticed, they both operate on a "do the min required" cheaper to fix the damage than prevent it (from their pov)

I'm glad to hear it Snood.

Under what criteria would you issue amber and red warnings Alexandra and how have you risk assessed those criteria?

Why do some people think the Met Office is 'too keen' to issue Amber and Red warnings because of a mistake that was made by a forecaster 35 years ago?

The Met Office issue these warnings because there is a danger to life and / or infrastructure. It's not OTT to do that, it's simply being responsible to the citizens of the UK.

our roof held up, phew.

neighbours cat litter box blew off the balcony AGAIN (yes, she's THAT neighbour).
and another neighbour's tarp/bike cover flew away.

tbh we had loads of messages on nextdoor about storm preparation. but some people (including THAT neighbour) never take heed unless there is free food

It's part of the Met Office responsibilities to issue the warnings. The colour coded warnings are intended for local government/emergency services/businesses to use and cover a range of possible impacts. Personally I highly doubt they are issued lightly.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/guides/warnings

Was a mistake made by the Met Office, MF was the communicator of that mistake.

Sure some parts of the UK needed a Orange Red warning but all of us? wind speeds in Cornwall (away from coast) was around 50mph, we got a risk to life and limb warning... madness.

On the way back from school, I saw a garden wall and fence that had blown over. It was perilously close to some parked cars.

When we had a red warning (for Arwen, i think) I messaged my neighbours on the group chat to remind them to secure bins, etc, and stay safe. I think they thought I was being overly cautious. Some had roof tiles blow off and go through their car windscreens. They now move their cars away from their houses to avoid it happening again.

It's always worth tyring to be safe if possible.

The Met Office issue the warning, it’s completely up to you what action you take (if any).

"The Met Office issue the warning, it’s completely up to you what action you take (if any)."
Absolutely.
Commonsense means you combine the overall warnings with your local forecast and make your own assessments based on your circumstances.
I dont think we can expect the met office to issue more granular warnings.

@Alexandra2001 A few year back we had a much less severe storm.(yellow warning) My neighbour went out to secure a plant. The roof ridge blew off and missed him by a foot! He was incredibly lucky.

These threads always bring out the ‘eee, we used to walk ten miles to school through ten foot snow’
bullshitters.

also, wind tunnels (due to high buildings, roads along coasts, through forests, along hills...) make for interesting local variations in wind speeds.

Not at all.
The problem with issuing warnings for every single storm to hit the UK is we stop taking them seriously.

They have a difficult job, get it wrong and we criticise as per M.Fish but there is a balance and i think its gone too far the other way now.

I used to live in Sweden so perhaps have a different perception as to what is bad weather.

Btw I liked my 10 mile walk in deep snow drifts, it was being chased by Wolves that freaked me out.

Absolutely. I know that even an amber warning won't affect our house much; the bins are in the yard, we're surrounded by taller strong old buildings and hills, we're out of flooding range; but we know to avoid walking through the park on our way to town because it's full of fragile trees near the end of their lives, not to drive to our regular meet ups because our route goes across exposed hillsides. It'll affect DH's route to work.

Use the information according to your own circumstances.

Some very good points here re warnings. They also serve to inform power networks and network rail and to prepare the emergency services.

There is a good page discussing the warnings criteria here.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/guides/severe-weather-advice

We had somebody die locally under a yellow warning the other year.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't, I think.

To explain a little further. Met Office warnings are based on a combination of likelihood and impacts. An amber warning needs to have either at least a medium likelihood of a medium impact event or an increased likelihood of a high impact event. A red warning is only issued when there is high likelihood of dangerous high impact weather; roofs blowing off, widespread danger etc.

The criteria are transparent. Sometimes the judgement can be tricky as to when to issue them and exactly where to issue them. This is in part because weather, as we all know, has localised unpredicability even during an event. Lots of trees coming down in a village would have a much bigger impact than if the same number of trees came down in the forest next to the village.

Nice fresh morning here now but geez what a night. My bedroom is on the back of the house that faces SW and it was sooooo noisy. Not much sleep was had 😔

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weather/4990699-storm-jocelyn Tomorrow's storm has been named now. A separate thread has been started for this.

Live in Cumbria lots of roads closed off due to flooding , Shap & Appleby villages had flooding in their main streets which has got into homes , lots of places without electricity and roads blocked due to roofs blown off and trees down. A new storm in the next few days is not good news.

Did anyone else have a huge thunder storm this morning around 9am? Thunder and lightning and very heavy rain.

The met office issues general warnings, we didn't have any damage. Two miles away rooves peeled off every garage in one road. 13 miles from us a town cut off by flooding.

They're really not pinpointing your address but the zone and whether you're in it's path.

I take heed. As a child we didn't have this information. And yep I walked to school two miles through ten foot snow drifts on either side with my daddy holding my hand . My teacher feeding a pot bellied stove with coal all day. In the playground we created ice slide runs

You said "I often wonder what the 'it's just windy weather' posters think after the event." And I answered (of course for my own personal experience!) 🤷

I am genuinely interested in what was going on though. Seems to be you that's being rude now.

@Hungrycaterpillarsmummy
Kitten is never rude, she's consistent and helpful and dedicated to weather. she is dedicated to helping people.

You were rude and flippant when millions were frightened and suffered damage.

Kitten is lovely.