Western Europe hit by worst storm in a decade
23 January 2009 00:00 UTC
On 23–25 January 2009, Western Europe was hit by a severe storm that killed at least 26 people and caused millions of Euros in damage.
09 June 2022
22 January 2009
By Cecilie Wettre and HansPeter Roesli (EUMETSAT)
The progress of the storm, one of Western Europe's worst in a decade, was tracked by Meteosat-9.
Most of the human loss and material damage occurred in Spain, where winds greater than 180km/h and 20-metre Atlantic Ocean waves were reported. Waves also killed at least one person in southern Italy. Portugal experienced severe weather with winds of up to 108km/h in Cabo Carvoeiro near Nazaré on the western coast of Portugal, and there were reports of tornados near Batalha.
The first signs of the storm could be seen with infrared and water vapour imagery by Meteosat-9 on 22 January. AEMET, the Spanish State Meteorological Agency reported that a sharp front between a cold, polar airmass and a more temperate and humid airmass formed in the area of the Azores islands. In the Meteosat-9 IR image (Figure 1), the frontal zone is marked with an 'F', while 'B' marks the area where the storm was formed.
The Meteosat-9 Airmass RGB imagery (Figure 2) shows track of the storm as it blew in from the Atlantic Ocean and left a trail of destruction in south-western France and northern Spain.
The effects of the storm could have been even worse if it had not been for the early warning provided by Meteosat-9. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country's response to the storm was better than it had been to the 1999 storm, the worst of last century, Agence France Presse reported.
Additional content
Met-9 Airmass RGB, 24 January 2009, 00:00 UTC, Large Area
Met-9 Airmass RGB with abs. topography 1000hPa (source: ePort)
Meteoalarm warning with 10 m model winds (24 January, source: ePort)
