Storm Kyrill and the storms of mid-January 2007: Societal and Energy Impacts in Europe

Abstract

Abstract. January 2007 was a stormy period in Europe with impacts on societal infrastructure and implications for energy meteorology. A series of cyclones tracked across the North Atlantic and into Europe during the two week period 8–22 January 2007. For many parts of Europe, Storm Kyrill on 18 January 2007 was the most important of these for the infrastructure damage that it caused. It had the highest European storm-related insurance losses in recent history. The storm spawned a high intensity derecho that started in Germany and travelled across eastern Europe into the Black Sea region. It was associated with severe convection, lightning, several tornadoes, and strong wind gusts. The storm caused over 50 fatalities, widespread disruption of transport and power networks, and a lot of forest damage. The highest coastal water levels for the month at many tide gauge stations in northwest Europe (and also for the year, in some cases) were registered during Storm Kyrill. This contribution presents a literature review of the storm characteristics and its impacts. This is followed by an analysis of the North Sea tide gauge data to assess the storm surge, tidal variation, and short-period seiche component around the North Sea. The water level information is compared with shipping accidents and offshore incidents to assess possible links. Unusually large waves had been registered at the FINO1 offshore wind energy research platform and off the northern coast of the Netherlands only a couple of months previously on 1 November 2006. While Storm Kyrill caused a lot of societal damage on land areas, there was comparatively little coastal damage around the North Sea and few reports of offshore infrastructure damage linked to wave strikes.

Storm Franz: Societal and energy impacts in northwest Europe on 11–12 January 2007

“…Water level data from tide gauges around the North Sea are analysed to trace the progress of the storm surge and to investigate the short period component of water level variation that may be linked with meteo-tsunamis or infragravity waves. The same procedure was followed as in the previous storm investigations of Kettle (2018Kettle ( , 2019Kettle ( , 2020Kettle ( , 2021Kettle ( , 2023 with minor modifications. Tide gauge water level data in the North Sea will typically contain a number frequency components comprising the semi-diurnal tide (∼ 12 h), longer period surge component (on the order of days), and a shorter period seiche component from harbour oscillations or meteotsunamis (on the order of minutes or 10s of minutes).…”

“…The tide gauge data preparation is the same as for Storm Kyrill (Kettle, 2023), and the results for both storms were derived from the same 16 d data segment. Briefly, the data to investigate the surge originate from the national water level monitoring agencies of the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Norway.…”

“…A few of the time series had minor data gaps that could be linearly interpolated, and this is described in further detail in Kettle (2023) . The source and key characteristics for the data sets are shown in Table S8.1 in the Supplement with a list of rejected stations in Table S8.2.…”

“…Storm Franz (name assigned by the Free University of Berlin) was a severe extratropical winter cyclone that impacted northern Europe on 11-12 January 2007. It was part of a storm series that passed across Europe during the month, starting with Storm Karla on 1 January 2007 and ending with Storm Lancelot on 20 January 2007 (Aktion Wetterpate, 2023; Kettle, 2023). Storm Kyrill on 18-19 January 2007 is considered the worst storm of the series for the magnitude of the damage costs and fatalities.…”

“…Storm Kyrill on 18-19 January 2007 is considered the worst storm of the series for the magnitude of the damage costs and fatalities. However, it was not considered an important maritime storm mainly because its trajectory across the central North Sea led to extreme winds only in the southernmost area near the coasts of Belgium and the Netherlands (Kettle, 2023). Storm Hanno (or Storm Per as it is known in Norway and Sweden) on 14 January 2007 had a more northerly trajectory and was locally more important for Norway, Denmark, and Sweden (Air Worldwide, 2007b;Kvamme, 2007;SMHI, 2009).…”