Storm Goretti Was Not “Worst Since 1703”!

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

You will remember that Storm Goretti supposedly set a new record gust speeds at St Mary’s Airport on the Isles of Scilly earlier this month:

Much was made of the fact that there is a long record of wind data in the Scillies, so, supposedly, winds of 99 mph must be truly exceptional.

I was highly sceptical at the time, pointing out much more powerful storms have hit the Southwest, including Burns Day in 1990, when winds of 93 kts, 107 mph were measured in Cornwall – the highest wind speeds to hit Cornwall during Goretti were only 90 mph:

I therefore sent the Met Office an FOI, asking for the data on the Scillies during the Burns Day storm. This is their response:

Note as well that the “new” record is specifically for the Airport, not the Scillies as a whole. As the Airport site only started recording wind speeds in 1991, there must be many, more powerful storms before 1991. Ones like the 1979 storm, which brought 118 mph winds to Gwennap Head:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-extremes

Storm Goretti was clearly not the “exceptional” storm it was made out to be by the BBC and others!

CORRECTION

The Burns Day storm was of course in 1990, not 1991 – now corrected!