Storm Ciarán Ravages Western Europe with Wind Gusts Up to 108 mph, Leaving 1.2 Million French Households Without Power
A potent storm named Ciarán unleashed its fury across western Europe, wreaking havoc with wind gusts reaching up to 108 mph along France’s Atlantic coast. The tempest brought chaos, including uprooted trees, shattered windows, power outages, and transportation disruptions. By Thursday, 1.2 million French households were left without electricity, and a weather-related fatality had already been confirmed in France. A truck driver lost his life when a tree struck his vehicle in northern France’s Aisne region.
Ciarán was responsible for heavy rainfall that surged ashore at the southwest tip of England, leading to flood warnings and calls for precaution from the UK’s national weather forecaster. The severe weather forced Dutch airline KLM to cancel all flights from the early afternoon until the end of the day due to the anticipated high sustained wind speeds and powerful gusts in the Netherlands.
The storm’s impacts reverberated across a wide swath of western Europe, with France particularly hard-hit. Coastal regions from Calais on the English Channel to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean down to Spain, as well as parts of the Mediterranean coast and Corsica, were under severe weather warnings. Record-breaking wind speeds of 108 mph were recorded along the Brittany coast, with winds reaching 96 mph on the Normandy coast and 90 mph inland. The country’s northwestern tip was expected to experience waves of nearly 33 feet.
In response to the dangerous conditions, local trains were canceled in western France, and all roads in Brittany’s Finistere region were closed. Authorities urged people to avoid driving and exercise caution when traveling through areas with weather warnings. The storm’s intensity cut power to around 1.2 million French households, with Brittany being the most severely affected. Electrical utility Enedis announced its deployment of 3,000 workers to restore power as soon as weather conditions permitted.
In the United Kingdom, the southern part of England and the Channel Islands bore the brunt of the storm, resulting in flooding in 54 areas, mostly along the southern coast of England. Schools in some coastal areas were closed as a precaution. The UK’s Met Office issued severe weather warnings for high waves and winds exceeding 80 mph.
The storm’s strength was attributed to a branch of the jet stream heading towards northern Europe. It was caused by an interaction between surface conditions and the atmospheric conditions a few miles above the ground.
Scientific discussions regarding the link between extreme weather events and global warming were raised by experts like Friederike Otto of Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. Otto noted that there have been few studies investigating whether wind speeds were increasing due to climate change. However, it is evident that rainfall associated with such storms has increased as a result of climate change. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to more rainfall. Research indicates a 7% increase in rainfall for every degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming. Heavier rainfall causes more damage, and rising sea levels due to global warming contribute to more destructive storm surges.
