Western Isles Weather

In this blog post we take a look back at Met Office named storms over recent years since the Met Office began naming storms from the 2015/ 16 season.

We also take look at the impacts that have occurred in the Western Isles.

In total the 2020/21 season had 5 Met Office named storms

Aiden, Bella, Christopher, Darcy and Evert

2019/20 had 6 named storms

Atiya, Brendan, Ciara, Dennis, Ellen and Francis.

2018/19 had 8 named storms

Ali, Bronagh, Calum, Derdire, Erik Freya, Gareth and Hannah.

2017/18 had 8 named storms.

Aileen, Brain, Caroline, Dylan, Eleanor, Fionn, Georgina and Hector

2016/17 had 5 named storms

Angus, Barabara, Coner, Doris and Ewan

2015/16 had 11 named storms

Abigail, Barney, Cloudagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude, Henry, Imogen, Jake, Katie

Some of the notable storms to impact the Western Isles include –

Storm Abigail with 84 mph at South Uist range 12-13 November 2015

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-abigail

Storm Frank with 85 mph at South Uist range and 70 mph at Benbecula 29-30 December 2015

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-frank

Storm Gertrude with 79 at South Uist range 29th January 2016

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-gertrude

Storm Henry with 90 mph at South Uist range, 85 mph at Benbecula and 79 mph at Stornoway. 1st and 2nd February 2016

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-henry

Storm Barbara brought winds of 75 mph to South Uist range 23rd and 24th December 2016

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-barbara

Storm Conor 83 mph winds at South Uist range 25th and 26th December 2016

Storm Georgina brought winds of 85 mph at South Uist range 24th January 2018.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/uk-storm-season-2017-18

Storm Brendon 87 mph at South Uist range on the 13th January 2020.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-storm-centre/storm-brendan

Storm Aiden brought winds of 78 mph to Stornoway Airport and 76 mph to South Uist range 31st October 2020

What I have noticed in the 17 years of living here is that our winters go in cycles we have years when the storms are less bad and other winters where we get slammed by multiple storms. This is evident in the highlighted storms above which have given us the greatest strong winds. I am curious to see what the upcoming winter brings.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post about Met Office named storms. I will do another blog post when the Met office release the name Storms for the 2021/22.