Windstorm Andrea
Posting Date: 11 January 2012
Location:
Peril: Windstorm
Updated 11 JAN
On Wednesday, 4 to Thursday, 5 January a low pressure system, named Andrea, tracked north of the UK and east-southeast across the North Sea, bringing strong gusts to parts of southern Germany, to coastal regions of Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and northern France, parts of western Austria and the UK. In particular the German states of Bayern and Baden-Württemberg were affected by the strong winds.
At 12:00 UTC on Thursday, 5 January Andrea reached its Nadir pressure of 962mb whilst located near 57°N, 15°E, over southern Sweden.
Preliminary meteorological observations from METAR stations in Germany indicate that peak gusts associated with Andrea reached 21m/s (77km/hr) in Stuttgart and 27m/s (100 km/hr) in Munich. Peak gust up to 25m/s (92km/hr) have been reported along coastal regions of France, Belgium and Germany. In the UK meteorological observations from METAR stations indicate that peak gusts associated with the storm were not as strong as those experienced when Windstrom Ulli passed over Scotland on Tuesday, 3 January. The areas in the UK experiencing the strongest winds were different for the two systems – the strongest winds from Andrea were reported across central England, whereas Ulli primarily affected Scotland. METAR stations reported peak gusts in Leeds and Bradford of 33m/s (120 km/hr), though the UK Met Office has reported peak gusts up to 40m/s (150km/hr) in this region. METAR station recordings indicate that stations in southern England did not experience peak gusts greater than 25m/s (90 km/hr) and neither in Glasgow or Edinburgh, Scotland. To note, METAR data is likely to under-estimate peak gusts due to the temporal data sampling at these stations.
In Bayern in Regensburg reports indicate that two commercial buildings lost their roves at the peak of the storm and in the Allgäu a church tower collapsed during the storm – though this was the result of a lightning strike.
Elsewhere across Germany; the state of Hessen has reported tree fall, a container was blown from a ship on the Rhine; localised and minimal flooding – to include the fish market - was reported in Hamburg as a result of high tides (though not on the scale that was feared along the North and Baltic coast as the storm approached); fallen trees have been reported in northern Germany. The states of Berlin and Brandenburg in northeast Germany have not reported significant damage.
As a result of Andrea, minimal roof damage, power outages and tree fall were reported along the northern coast of France. In Belgium low levels of roof damage have been reported, and flooded and debris blocked roads. The western most state of Austria – Vorarlberg – has reported fallen trees, and in Tyrol a reported 10,000 lost power temporarily.
RMS is continuing to monitor the impact of Windstorm Andrea and is analysing meteorological information in relation to the storm.
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