{"id":243283,"date":"2023-02-05T14:46:42","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T13:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=243283"},"modified":"2023-02-05T14:46:44","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T13:46:44","slug":"why-have-there-been-no-named-winter-storms-this-year-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=243283","title":{"rendered":"Why have there been no named winter storms this year? \u2013 BBC\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Tallbloke’s Talkshop<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0February 4, 2023 by\u00a0oldbrew<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bring on the loaded questions, such as \u2018How does climate change affect windstorms?\u2019 The BBC casts around for suspects, like La Ni\u00f1a and meandering polar jet streams, but it\u2019s all inconclusive. Are the \u2018extreme weather\u2019 climate obsessives feeling deprived?<\/em>
\u2013 \u2013 \u2013
By February, the UK would normally have had around three storms given names by the Met Office \u2013 just like Arwen, Barra and Callum, says BBC News<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But so far this autumn and winter, there hasn\u2019t been a single one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weather patterns have been calmer across the Atlantic and towards northwest Europe. But why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of factors at play \u2013 and the forces behind this year\u2019s lack of storms were also instrumental in December\u2019s cold snap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In previous years, the first named storm has taken place by early December. And by the end of January, typically three storms would have formed, bringing impacts to the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storms can bring a danger to life and cause millions of pounds worth of damage from strong winds, heavy rain and even significant snowfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The busiest autumn\/winter season<\/a> was 2015-16, when a total of eight named storms had hit the UK by the start of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During February 2022, three storms were named within a week. Dudley, Eunice and Franklin impacted hundreds of thousands of homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The insurance payouts resulting from the three storms was close to \u00a3500 million, according to the Association of British Insurers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storm Eunice was one of the worst storms to hit the UK in 30 years, with rare red warnings issued across south Wales and southern England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eunice was also responsible for a new England wind gust record of 122mph at The Needles on the Isle of Wight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Windstorms in the UK are usually caused by little wobbles in an active jet stream (a corridor of strong winds around 30-40,000ft up in our atmosphere) over the Atlantic directed towards northwest Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some circumstances, the atmospheric conditions can create explosive cyclogenesis \u2013 or a weather bomb \u2013 just to the west of the UK, which can bring the most damaging winds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naming storms was started by the Met Office and Ireland\u2019s Met Eireann in 2015, with the idea of being able to communicate the hazards and warnings associated with them.
. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Why so quiet this season?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, our autumn \u2013 which, meteorologically speaking, runs from September to November \u2013 was the third warmest on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While rainfall increased after the very dry spring and summer, it was only marginally above average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Into the start of winter, December was the first month in 18 where the average temperature went below average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December\u2019s cold snap was due in part to what is known as a \u201cblocking weather pattern\u201d. At the time, this pattern was over Western Europe, and preventing weather systems from reaching the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK\u2019s lack of named storms this season is likely to be due to the position of the Polar jet stream, a ribbon of strong winds high in the atmosphere that create and drive weather systems across the Atlantic to northwest Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other parts of Europe have had more than their usual share of named storms. There have been eight in the southwest Europe naming group, which includes France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK\u2019s cold snap may be partially due to the fact that a naturally occurring climate pattern called La Ni\u00f1a \u2013 which means large-scale cooling in the Pacific \u2013 is in its third consecutive year. This is known as a \u201ctriple-dip\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rare \u2018triple dip\u2019 La Ni\u00f1a declared<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this phase, UK winters tend to be colder and calmer at the start then switch to milder, wetter and windier weather toward the end of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts believe that rising global temperatures mean that La Ni\u00f1a and El Ni\u00f1o \u2013 the opposite of La Ni\u00f1a \u2013 events will become stronger by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n


How does climate change affect windstorms?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the link between climate change and extra-tropical cyclones \u2013 the storms that normally affect northwest Europe \u2013 is currently unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They suggest that European windstorms have actually reduced in frequency over the last few decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is widely accepted that when we do get storms, climate change is likely to make them more extreme with higher rainfall totals and potentially greater impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full article here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bring on the loaded questions, such as \u2018How does climate change affect windstorms?\u2019 The BBC casts around for suspects, like La Ni\u00f1a and meandering polar jet streams, but it\u2019s all inconclusive. Are the \u2018extreme weather\u2019 climate obsessives feeling deprived?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":243286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-243283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","9":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-175.png?fit=2500%2C1651&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-11hV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":426362,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=426362","url_meta":{"origin":243283,"position":0},"title":"Climate Scaremongering or Legitimate Warning? BBC’s Rainfall Records Spark Fierce Debate","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Paul Homewood criticizes a BBC Weather article from February 2, 2026, headlined \"January rainfall in parts of UK breaks more than century- long record.\" The BBC report stated that regions like Northern Ireland, south- west and southern England, and east of Scotland had one of their wettest Januarys on record,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"BBC\"","block_context":{"text":"BBC","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bbc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AQPe1zuTIlOMjFB3kS_IcA9v5g3-MJPvvAo_DI1b85dmIFJeEPsgP7_4Ysr3muQ_jWxhYPQYMH4ssoI6HdCrIz4tLiIdR6tVj9SS8rBO1uC4tXiJJl9S1cGA7VkSPDoC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AQPe1zuTIlOMjFB3kS_IcA9v5g3-MJPvvAo_DI1b85dmIFJeEPsgP7_4Ysr3muQ_jWxhYPQYMH4ssoI6HdCrIz4tLiIdR6tVj9SS8rBO1uC4tXiJJl9S1cGA7VkSPDoC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AQPe1zuTIlOMjFB3kS_IcA9v5g3-MJPvvAo_DI1b85dmIFJeEPsgP7_4Ysr3muQ_jWxhYPQYMH4ssoI6HdCrIz4tLiIdR6tVj9SS8rBO1uC4tXiJJl9S1cGA7VkSPDoC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C666&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AQPe1zuTIlOMjFB3kS_IcA9v5g3-MJPvvAo_DI1b85dmIFJeEPsgP7_4Ysr3muQ_jWxhYPQYMH4ssoI6HdCrIz4tLiIdR6tVj9SS8rBO1uC4tXiJJl9S1cGA7VkSPDoC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C666&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AQPe1zuTIlOMjFB3kS_IcA9v5g3-MJPvvAo_DI1b85dmIFJeEPsgP7_4Ysr3muQ_jWxhYPQYMH4ssoI6HdCrIz4tLiIdR6tVj9SS8rBO1uC4tXiJJl9S1cGA7VkSPDoC.jpeg?fit=1200%2C666&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":229869,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=229869","url_meta":{"origin":243283,"position":1},"title":"An Extreme (ly Nice) Summer","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Sadly, this sort of political propaganda is par for the course where the Met Office is concerned.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0image-80.png?fit=1024%2C537&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0image-80.png?fit=1024%2C537&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0image-80.png?fit=1024%2C537&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/0image-80.png?fit=1024%2C537&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":287389,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=287389","url_meta":{"origin":243283,"position":2},"title":"The Burns Day Storm of\u00a01990","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Burns' Day Storm (also known as Cyclone Daria) was\u00a0an extremely violent windstorm\u00a0that took place on 25\u201326 January 1990 over North-Western Europe. It is one of the strongest European windstorms on record and caused many fatalities in the UK and Europe. From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT By\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"1990\"","block_context":{"text":"1990","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=1990"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-280.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-280.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-280.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-280.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-280.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":188463,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=188463","url_meta":{"origin":243283,"position":3},"title":"Met Office: Why Storm Eunice was so severe, and will violent windstorms become more\u00a0common?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/02\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Credit: Wikipedia Spoiler: the Met Office wouldn\u2019t ask its \u2018more common\u2019 question if it was confident it knew the answer. Instead it turns to its new buzz term: \u201csting jet\u201d.\u2013 \u2013 \u2013The UK Met Office has issued two red weather warnings in as many months for strong winds,\u00a0says Phys.org. These\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/0jetstream1-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":354886,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=354886","url_meta":{"origin":243283,"position":4},"title":"Darragh Stronger Because Of Global Warming\u2013BBC","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s another pseudo-science Weather Attribution organisation to add to the list, called ClimaMeter, which the BBC has been bigging up lately.","rel":"","context":"In \"BBC\u2019s Science Correspondent\"","block_context":{"text":"BBC\u2019s Science Correspondent","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bbcs-science-correspondent"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/012721529-facepalm-meme-symbol-kostenlos-vektor.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/012721529-facepalm-meme-symbol-kostenlos-vektor.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/012721529-facepalm-meme-symbol-kostenlos-vektor.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/012721529-facepalm-meme-symbol-kostenlos-vektor.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/012721529-facepalm-meme-symbol-kostenlos-vektor.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":386372,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=386372","url_meta":{"origin":243283,"position":5},"title":"Thanks, NewScientist, for Admitting Climate Change Isn\u2019t Making the Jet Stream More Erratic","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/07\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"NewScientist, a publication dedicated to popularizing science, recently published a post titled \u201cExtreme winter weather isn\u2019t down to a wavier jet stream,\u201d reporting on a new study that shows, the jet stream is not getting wavier in winter months due to climate change. This is true, and it has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Alarmists\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Alarmists","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-alarmists"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0polar-vortex-132409047_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C1067&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0polar-vortex-132409047_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C1067&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0polar-vortex-132409047_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C1067&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0polar-vortex-132409047_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C1067&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0polar-vortex-132409047_m.jpg?fit=1200%2C1067&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=243283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243288,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243283\/revisions\/243288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/243286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=243283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=243283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=243283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}