1968 Scotland storm

Meteorological history

The origins of this violent storm appear to be from a cold front near Bermuda on 13 January 1968. The system moved north of the Azores the next day and still appeared as a shallow low pressure area. In the next 24 hours, this low explosively deepened 50 millibars (1½ inches) to 956 mb and passed over Central Scotland. The storm continued to move over Northern Europe before dissipating on 18 January 1968.

Impact

United Kingdom

15 January 1968 began as a mild day, then temperatures grew cooler as the day progressed. The highest temperature on that day was 11.8 C at St. James's Park, London and the lowest was 5.1 C at Lerwick, Shetland. The most rainfall on 15 January in the British Isles was 24.9 mm at South Barrule. In Glasgow alone, over 300 houses were destroyed and 70,000 homes were damaged. Due to the strong winds, half of Glasgow's council houses were damaged. Many people evacuated what were then Europe's tallest flats as they began swaying. Officials said at least seven ships sank or went adrift in the river Clyde causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage. Off the east coast of Scotland, a drilling rig called Sea Quest was set adrift in rough seas. Over a thousand mature trees were downed in the Central Belt, as well as power lines. In total, the storm felled 30 sq. mi. (8,000 hectares) of forest across Scotland (2 million cu. yd.; 1.6 million cubic metres of timber). A Glasgow police spokesman said that it was 'absolute havoc' in the city. Electrical power also failed in Glasgow, leaving the whole city in darkness.

In England and Wales, a five-day freeze ended with some roads flooded by up to 3 ft of water. Large waves pounded the English Channel coastline.

Wind speeds

Rest of Europe

In Denmark, officials in Copenhagen said that eight people died in the country from the storm.

Aftermath

After the storm moved away, the death toll continued to rise. 30 people died in accidents during subsequent house repairs. On 16 January 1968, about 150 troops from Edinburgh came to Glasgow to help with the clean-up operation. There was little national press coverage of the storm, despite it affecting most of northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. An interest-free loan of £500,000 was given by the Labour Government to the affected areas. Singer Frankie Vaughan began to raise funds for the victims of the storm by holding a special concert at Alhambra Theatre in Glasgow.

After the devastation of the storm in the area, the Glasgow City Council quickly imposed a new policy to improve housing in the city.

References

References

1. (5 January 2002). "Destroyed by a devastating blow EVENT: Hurricane Low Q, January 1968". Herald Scotland.
2. "The Great Storm of 1968". SunnyGovan.
3. "The Glasgow 'Hurricane'". Weatheronline.
4. (17 January 1968). "20 dead: Scots start mop-up". The Age.
5. (16 January 1968}} {{Dead link). "New Killer Gusts Rush Britain". The Milwaukee Journal.
6. "Great Glasgow Storm – Monday 15 January 1968". Met Office.
7. (16 January 1968). "Winds Batter Scotland; Toll Is 20 – Glasgow Hard Hit – Snow Falls in Mideast Storms Lash Europe, Mideast; Scotland Hard Hit". The New York Times.
8. (12 January 2018). "The "Glasgow Hurricane": A Fifty-year Retrospective".
9. (16 January 1968). "High Winds Threaten Britain". Reading Eagle.
10. "Weather extremes". Met Office.
11. (February 2018). "Fifty years on from the Great Glasgow Storm… What have we learned from powerful storms since then?". Weather.
12. "Glasgow's Devastating Hurricane". Evening Times.
13. (21 January 1988). "Growing in the wind". New Scientist.
14. (15 January 1968). "Snow Storms and Wind Cause Misery in Europe". Lawrence Journal-World.
15. (16 January 1968). "Storms Bring Death and Chaos". The Montreal Gazette.
16. (15 January 1968). "Killer Storms Pound Europe, Batter Mideast". The Modesto Bee.
17. (16 January 1968). "Second Gale Nears U.K.". The Sun (Vancouver).