On Wednesday 16th October 1987, some of the strongest winds to ever have been recorded in England tore through the country leaving a path of destruction, devastation and demolition behind it.

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On Wednesday 16th October 1987, some of the strongest winds to ever have been recorded in England tore through the country leaving a path of destruction, devastation and demolition behind it. Warnings of high winds had been issued two days before, but nobody foresaw such annihilation.

This storm was the worst to hit South East England since 1703, and will be the worst for 100’s of years yet to come. And the cause of this storm? A severe depression in the weather system.

In basic terms, a depression is a low pressure weather system which bring periods of unsettled weather with them. Each side of a depression is a front, and on these fronts (one warm, one cold) the weather is at its worst. A front is lying above South East England causing the most awful weather conditions there. And in this case, extremely unsettled weather with unpredictable affects. The storm developed so rapidly that the track and ferocity of the storm was not able to be predicted. As it became so apparent that was not a normal occurrence in our maritime temperate climate, severe warnings were issued to the Emergency Services across the country.

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The following events are main events leading up to the Great Storm:

11th Oct – High Winds and heavy rain have been forecast for the weekend.

15th Oct, 12:00, Depression expected to track along the English Channel, producing “Fresh to strong winds”.

15th Oct, 21:30, A warning of strong winds is given, they may reach up to 50 kmh.

16th Oct, 00:30, Radio shipping forecast warns of severe gale conditions for “sea area’s” Thames, Dover, Wight, and Portland are particularly at risk.

– 01:30, Police and Fire services are put on official alert: “Extreme weather ...

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