Storm Isha–Don’t Be Fooled By 99 MPH Claims

By Paul Homewood

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-68036507

Storm Isha is now moving away, having caused some disruption, mainly falling trees.

But did it really live up to the hype about 99 mph winds? Or have we been conned again by the Met Office?

That 99 mph comes from Brizlee Wood:

In reality however, Brizlee is not a wood at all, it is an RAF radar station on top of a 250m hilltop above Alnwick Moor.

To use a site like this with the intent to suggest that it is somehow representative is quite clearly fraudulent.

We can carry on down the list.

Capel Curig – 216m – established 1993

Needles – 80m – established 1996

Shap – 252m – established 1982

Prestwick – 27m – established ?

Salsburgh – 277m – established 1964

The only site that can be regarded as representative is Prestwick.

It is also worth noting that most of these unrepresentative upland sites, all official Met Office stations, are relatively new. Why did the Met Office decide to start setting them up in the 1990s? Could it be the propaganda value of them?

Brizlee Wood, by the way, does not even appear on the latest Met Office listing, dated 2019, so presumably is even newer. I have asked the Met Office to confirm the date it opened.

Nevertheless, when we try to compare storms like Isha with others in the past, we are not comparing like with like. Met Office reports decades ago tended to focus on places where people actually lived!

Boulmer is a village on the coast, just a few miles from Brizelee. There average wind speeds only reached 34 mph, referred to as a near gale.