7mo ago

Strongest storm in generations predicted as Éowyn to hit UK and Ireland

www.theguardian.com

Storm Éowyn: 4.5m people receive siren phone alert in Scotland and Northern Ireland

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A rare red weather warning covering Northern Ireland and Scotland was issued on Thursday before what could be the strongest storm in generations.
The Met Office said the arrival of Storm Éowyn on Friday could bring gusts of up to 100mph and “flying debris resulting in a danger to life”.
The red warnings, an upgrade of existing amber warnings, covered all of Northern Ireland and parts of central and southern Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ayr and Peebles.
...
Northern Railways, which operates across northern England, advised passengers to “avoid travelling where possible” as it cancelled services before the storm. The company said it was expecting “severe disruption” and had cancelled services across the network including trains across the Pennines, down the Cumbrian coast and between Carlisle and Newcastle.
LNER said there would be no services north of Newcastle in either direction from 11am on Friday. Avanti West Coast advised passengers not to travel north of Preston or on its North Wales route.
Blimey, we're in for a rough one.
The government have kicked their emergency red alert system into action causing my phone to shrill at me.
In the true fashion of government competence I'm not even located in the red warning area.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/23/storm-eowyn-red-weather-warning
- Are you nearby to it at least? The last big one in December they had the emergency warning zone a fair bit bigger than the actual red area to account for people travelling. Which does make sense considering people will commute up to 50 miles or so, plus inaccuracies from phone masts covering a large area.
  
  I'm far enough that I think it's inappropriate to have issued it to my area.
  It's a very invasive system. The phone screams at you with a siren noise for 10 seconds even on silent. And very boldly declared itself a RED warning.
  If they are expanding it to account for travel distances I think they should have more accurate wording.
  I'm happy to have these alerts enabled if they're used appropriately but if they start to make a habit of it I'll end up disabling them.
Was thinking of heading on down to the sea wall to see how big the waves get. Looks like the wind won't be very strong here though so probably won't bother.
- Depends where you are. It'll be dangerous around here - in previous storms there was a video of someone jogging along the promenade as the waves crashed. Looked fancy but the debris the next day included plenty of bricks and rocks, and an old car tyre, so they could easily have been brained.
- Doesn't need to be windy if the waves have a good run in from where it is windy though. Can still be quite impressive!

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