On January 5, 1993, the MV Braer  oil tanker was traveling between Norway and Canada when it lost power in hurricane force winds. The vessel was forced aground at Garths Ness, Shetland, spilling more than 84,000 tonnes of crude oil.

NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

January 1993 was another extremely wind month in the 1990s.

The Met Office report says it all:

The simple fact that Scotland had 25 days on the trot with winds of at least 70 kts, 80 mph, is astonishing enough in itself. So was the fact that at least 17 people died  because of storms on five separate days.

And 82 kts, which is 94 mph, at Leeds is remarkable for an inland location.

According to one analysis:

And the Met Office described it as a significant weather event:

We certainly have not seen anything approaching the storminess of 1987, 1990 and 1993 in the last decade.