From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

This is all getting beyond absurd. Last month we had media claims of 80 mph winds, then 90 mph during Storm Henk. Now it’s “Hurricane Force”!

Every time they have to ramp up the alarm, as their efforts to scare us fail.

So let’s be very clear about one thing – this is not a hurricane, which specifically is a tropical cyclone, something that feeds off the warmth of the ocean. According to NOAA, they need the following conditions to form:

This new storm, Isha,  is actually an Extratropical Cyclone, which gets its power from the temperature difference between cold polar air and warm tropical air. In other words, a common or garden depression, which can be small and weak, or big and powerful:

The claim that Isha has hurricane force winds is particularly disingenuous. Sustained (average) winds of 74 mph over the open ocean are nothing unusual at all at this time of year, and will be much stronger than anything hitting land, even on top of The Needles. And sustained winds are not gusts.

Gusts of 50 to 60 mph are generally expected inland, again nothing unusual. The worst of the winds are expected in the west of Scotland and West Wales:

If we look at the latest Met Office forecast for Sunday evening, Glasgow might get gusts of 52 mph, but average winds are much lower at 25 mph.

It looks a bit windier down in Aberystwyth, gusts of 61 mph and average winds of 33 mph. No doubt a few locations will see stronger winds, but this is just another gale of the sort we see every winter. A hurricane it ain’t!