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The Great Storm of 31st January 1953

  • 28-12-2011 2:55pm
    #1
    Su Campu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,279 ✭✭✭


    I'm reading Bear Grylls' autobiography Blood, Sweat and Tears at the moment and in it he describes how his grandfather lost his life as Captain of the Princess Victoria car ferry that sunk in the North Irish Sea in early Jan 31st, 1953, killing 133 people. This is the same storm that went on to generate the record storm surge in eastern England and the Netherlands, which killed over 2,100 people.

    I had no idea about the car ferry until reading the book.

    186479.PNG
    What happened to cause this storm?

    In the early hours of 30 January 1953, the storm that was to cause the havoc was a normal looking depression with a central pressure of 996 mb, located a little to the south of Iceland. While it looked normal, during the day the pressure rapidly deepened and headed eastwards.
    By 6 p.m. on 30 January, it was near the Faeroes, its central pressure 980 mb. By 12p.m. (midday) on 31 January, it was centred over the North Sea between Aberdeenshire and southern Norway and its central pressure was 968 mb.


    Meanwhile, a strong ridge of high pressure had built up over the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland, the pressure within being more than 1030 mb. In the steep pressure gradient that now existed on the western flanks of the depression, there was a very strong flow from a northerly point. Winds of Force 10 were reported from exposed parts of Scotland and northern England. The depression turned south-east and deepened to 966 mb before filling. By midday on 1 February, it lay over northern Germany, its central pressure 984 mb.


    All day on 31 January, Force 10/11 winds blew from the north over western parts of the North Sea. They drove water south, and generated waves more than eight metres high. The surge originated in the waters off the north-east coast of Scotland and was amplified as it travelled first southwards along the eastern coasts of Scotland and England, and then north-east along the coast of the Netherlands. It reached Ijmuiden in the Netherlands around 4 a.m. on 1 February.


    http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/teens/case-studies/floods


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