Disruption to services - Storm Dudley & Storm Eunice

[MadCommuter]

Amber warning for Strathclyde now brought forward to start at 14.00. Now what do ScotRail do...

However, peak winds also reduced.

 

[londonmidland]

An Amber warning has now been issued by the Met Office for Friday, for a widespread area of England and Wales.

‘Storm Eunice may cause significant disruption due to extremely strong winds on Friday.’

 

[philjo]

Friday’s amber warning covers everywhere in England and Wales south of a line around Liverpool-Sheffield-Hull

 

[nlogax]

Dudley certainly kicked off properly. I was kept awake by the high winds outside Glasgow last night. It's calmed down this morning, and there is a very much a winding-down feel at Queen St right now. Things still running normally but obviously notices everywhere to warn of the 4pm end to services.

 

[MikeWM]

Friday’s amber warning covers everywhere in England and Wales south of a line around Liverpool-Sheffield-Hull

It is very likely that we will get a red warning for some places on Friday once there is more certainty about the path of the storm. BBC Weather currently showing 77mph gusts for Ely on Friday afternoon (and 81mph in Norwich), I don't recall seeing such a high number for a very long time.

 

[mike57]

It is very likely that we will get a red warning for some places on Friday once there is more certainty about the path of the storm.

Once the path of the storm has been determined in more detail I am certain there will be red warnings. Some places in the South West and Wales are showing close to 100mph gusts on Friday. It has the potential to be one of the most damaging storms since Oct 1987, mainly because the worst of the winds will be across areas of high population. There is also significant snow forecast for NE England and Southern Scotland, although the probability of the snow event is lower. Worst winds look to be from 10:00 until 17:00 Friday, with the strongest winds to the south of the depression tracking across the country from Sw to NE

 

[irish_rail]

What we thinking, a blanket 50mph south of Birmingham or nothing running at all??!!!

 

[InOban]

The weather front came through here a short time ago followed by very strong gusts. Not unusual. They're now clearly more worried about Eunice.

 

[YorkshireBear]

The weather front came through here a short time ago followed by very strong gusts. Not unusual. They're now clearly more worried about Eunice.

They seem more worried about Eunice because of where it is hitting. The news even says, Storm Dudley is nothing unusual for this bit of the UK at this time of year. Storm Eunice on the other hand, doesn't appear to be.

 

[Scotrail314209]

The weather has just suddenly picked up, particularly the wind.

No sign of heavy rain right now, as it is sunny here but it was raining heavily earlier.

It's probably going to worsen throughout the day.

 

[MadCommuter]

Hypothetical question: if I was on a train from London to Glasgow Central which was booked in advance to a connecting station such as Helensburgh, and the London train got me to Glasgow Central, what would be the obligation on a TOC to complete my journey today?

 

[Ex-controller]

Hypothetical question: if I was on a train from London to Glasgow Central which was booked in advance to a connecting station such as Helensburgh, and the London train got me to Glasgow Central, what would be the obligation on a TOC to complete my journey today?

I don’t think there would be any, assuming they cancelled the timetable last night.

If you spoke to some station staff at Glasgow Central who were aware you’d arrived from out the country, they’d maybe get you a taxi, but I don’t think they’d be obliged to.

 

[nickswift99]

LNER have published a "Do not travel" advisory for Friday

Severe weather is forecast for Friday 18th February which is likely to cause

significant disruption to our services. Please do not travel on Friday 18th February. Any customers with tickets dated for travel on LNER services on Friday 18th February may travel on Thursday 17th February instead, or will be entitled to a full refund. Please visit our Travel Alerts page for information on refunds and alternative travel.

 

[MikeWM]

What we thinking, a blanket 50mph south of Birmingham or nothing running at all??!!!

If the majority of the forecasts we currently see end up verifying, I'd be surprised if anything at all ran.

I think NR and the TOCs should be getting ahead of this right now and putting big scary warnings that nothing may be running on Friday [1] and to travel tomorrow instead. People need to be able to plan.

(And I'm one of the first people to consistently complain about over-caution on the railways and the multiple times a year we now cancel stuff in case of strong winds - not least because 'crying wolf' too often makes people not take notice when something really serious does happen. And this one looks very much like it could be a once-in-a-decade, or worse, one).


[1] quite a lot of stuff may not be running for some days later either, this will cause a lot of infrastructure damage

 

[nickswift99]

If the majority of the forecasts we currently see end up verifying, I'd be surprised if anything at all ran.

I think NR and the TOCs should be getting ahead of this right now and putting big scary warnings that nothing may be running on Friday and to travel tomorrow instead. People need to be able to plan.

(And I'm one of the first people to consistently complain about over-caution on the railways and the multiple times a year we now cancel stuff in case of strong winds - not least because 'crying wolf' too often makes people not take notice when something really serious does happen. And this one looks very much like it could be a once-in-a-decade, or worse, one).

LNER have done exactly that. (Well done them)

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm having to self-isolate from Friday onwards after a COVID test for a minor operation on Monday. I get the feeling I've quite fortunately come up against a weekend on which going outside won't be on the agenda anyway!

 

[Techniquest]

Wow it has been windy here today! Currently 44-47mph gusts, which thankfully are not too frequent right now but when they blow they are noticeable! I've even cancelled my plans to go outside for cardio exercise this afternoon, which is notable because not an awful lot gets in the way of even low-intensity exercise such as walking!

I've never seen an amber warning in my area, and nor have I seen a map for one that covers such a big area for Friday. What was noticeable, pleasantly, today was that Sainsburys was not packed of panic shopping people, which I had expected. I've attached a screenshot from the Met Office app, just because it feels appropriate to do so.

Good call from LNER there, I'm surprised Avanti aren't following suit although maybe more TOCs will tomorrow? Certainly I'm glad everywhere I need to go this week is doable on foot, and that I went on my mini adventure yesterday and not today!

 

[John Luxton]

I was supposed to be taking my cat to the vet for her annual check up on Friday - postponed that until next week after looking at XCWeather web site early today which I always find a better site than the MetOffice when it comes to wind forecasts.

My major anxiety in for several years when it comes to wind is large tree which stands in the grounds of a currently unused property to the rear of my house.

The property, a former synagogue, has been been subject to various redevelopment plans over the past decade, the tree in the grounds if it were to fall has the potential to cross my neighbour's garden and hit either my house, my neighbours' house or her neighbour's house.

I guess a good few anxious hours lie ahead.

Only good thing about Eunice where I am the worst will be day time and at least one can see what is happening!

 

[Techniquest]

I was supposed to be taking my cat to the vet for her annual check up on Friday - postponed that until next week after looking at XCWeather web site early today which I always find a better site than the MetOffice when it comes to wind forecasts.

My major anxiety in for several years when it comes to wind is large tree which stands in the grounds of a currently unused property to the rear of my house.

The property, a former synagogue, has been been subject to various redevelopment plans over the past decade, the tree in the grounds if it were to fall has the potential to cross my neighbour's garden and hit either my house, my neighbours' house or her neighbour's house.

I guess a good few anxious hours lie ahead.

Only good thing about Eunice where I am the worst will be day time and at least one can see what is happening!

Fingers crossed you will be fine, and no damage will be had Good decision on postponing that vet visit, I was just gearing up to go out for a 1 mile power walk (as the wind had gone down again briefly) and figured as I'd been out shopping opening the window for a short amount of time, and only open a small distance, wouldn't hurt.

Then the wind picked right back up and slammed the window shut. Message received! At least the bedding got mostly dried in the time I was out, thanks to the wind, I will soon have it ready to go into the wardrobe so I can hardly complain!

 

[ChrisC]

There’s a wedding at the church in the next village to me at 1pm on Friday. The BBC weather app is currently showing wind speeds here of 67 mph for that time on Friday. It doesn’t help that the church is some way out of the village down a narrow lane with parking in a field under trees.

 

[cambsy]

There has been a Danger to Life issued for Storm Eunice on Friday, by the Met Office, for south west England, luckily im off work, so dont have to drive in it,and I think, especially in south west, could Be very slow journeys, and trecharous comditins, or nothing running at all.

 

[Ken H]

wind speeds getting up here in Ribblesdale. But note these readings are from a station high up above Settle
This graph from wunderground.com which shows data from personal weather stations. Its data from today (16th Feb 2022 16:20)

 

[Bletchleyite]

There has been a Danger to Life issued for Storm Eunice on Friday, by the Met Office, for south west England, luckily im off work, so dont have to drive in it,and I think, especially in south west, could Be very slow journeys, and trecharous comditins, or nothing running at all.

I think it would be sensible, off the back of how it worked for COVID, for the Government to issue a "work from home if you can" recommendation for Friday, so people do not feel forced to travel and thus get stranded or worse. We've proved it is feasible, so it definitely is for such occasional dangers.

 

[_toommm_]

1L24 has hit a trampoline just outside of Cardiff Central (photo not mine, but is from a Facebook group I’m in):

 

[bramling]

I think it would be sensible, off the back of how it worked for COVID, for the Government to issue a "work from home if you can" recommendation for Friday, so people do not feel forced to travel and thus get stranded or worse. We've proved it is feasible, so it definitely is for such occasional dangers.

Dodgy. I remember the storm we had in the south-east 3 or so years ago which fell on a weekend as I recall. A "do not travel" warning was copiously issued, which was made pretty clear at stations and the like.

GTR were running a skeleton service. So guess what happened? When the train turned up, it was jam-packed full with people from Cambridge taking a day-trip to London.

Sometimes things which are pretty sensible in theory have unintended consequences. Same with Covid back in 2020 - the emptiest period for my local mainline trains wasn't after Johnson announced the lockdown, but in the week or so leading up to it.

In essence, people have a habit of interpreting these sorts of warnings as applying to *others*, whilst taking an "it won't happen to me" attitude. I remember something similar at my place on a Sunday before Christmas when it snowed much heavier than had been forecast - staff took an absolutely massive amount of abuse from people whose Christmas shopping plans were disrupted, despite some pretty obviously challenging weather conditions.

 

[GALLANTON]

I think it would be sensible, off the back of how it worked for COVID, for the Government to issue a "work from home if you can" recommendation for Friday, so people do not feel forced to travel and thus get stranded or worse. We've proved it is feasible, so it definitely is for such occasional dangers.

We don't need the Tory Scarecrow telling us that it's too dangerous to go outside. We can make our own minds up ourselves.

 

[O L Leigh]

1L24 has hit a trampoline just outside of Cardiff Central (photo not mine, but is from a Facebook group I’m in):

That's fine. I'm sure it just bounced off.

Er, which way is the exit...?

 

[Horizon22]

1L24 has hit a trampoline just outside of Cardiff Central (photo not mine, but is from a Facebook group I’m in):

It's been lodged underneath so now unable to move.

 

[Techniquest]

1L24 has hit a trampoline just outside of Cardiff Central (photo not mine, but is from a Facebook group I’m in):

Is it just me, or did anyone else look at the open nosecone (ooh that has me wanting to watch Thunderbirds: Zero X all of a sudden!) and immediately seeing a shocked face emoticon?

Or indeed, as I did just now, did anyone think of Kirby (a Nintendo video game character) swallowing something up?

 

[John Luxton]

1L24 has hit a trampoline just outside of Cardiff Central (photo not mine, but is from a Facebook group I’m in):

These things are quite a pest any sign of wind and the blow off somewhere. I have lost count of the number of incidents I have read about caused by trampolines.

Who ends up picking up the bill for the havoc and damage they cause?