From 14 to 19 February 2022, a

European windstorm European windstorms are powerful extratropical cyclones which form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure. They can occur throughout the year, but are most frequent between October and March, with peak inten ...

struck the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Nether ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

, and Lithuania. The storm was named Storm Dudley by the UK Met Office on February 14, 2022. The storm caused 225,000 people to lose power, killed nine people, and spawned 24 tornadoes across Europe. The storm occurred just before the stronger and more impactful

Storm Eunice Storm Eunice () (known as Storm Zeynep in Germany and Storm Nora in Denmark) was an intense extratropical cyclone that was part of the 2021–2022 European windstorm season. Storm Eunice was named by the UK Met Office on 14 February 2022. A r ...

, which caused over 3.1 million power outages, 17 fatalities, and over €1.83 billion in damage.

Meteorological history

Storm Dudley, along with

and Storm Franklin, formed by a sting jet, a narrow band of winds that can create narrow and intense winds in a small area. It was also partly due to a large

polar vortex A circumpolar vortex, or simply polar vortex, is a large region of cold, rotating air that encircles both of Earth's polar regions. Polar vortices also exist on other rotating, low- obliquity planetary bodies. The term polar vortex can be used ...

in the Arctic that formed these storms. The storm trio isn't particularly rare for the area, as it has happened before. The storm also brought a very rare formation of

mammatus clouds Mammatus (also called mamma or mammatocumulus, meaning "mammary cloud") is a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud, typically a cumulonimbus raincloud, although they may be attached to other classes of parent cloud ...

, and brought wind gusts of in Capel Cruig, Wales, in Yorkshire and in Drumalbin, Scotland.

Preparations and impacts

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom saw one fatality due to Storm Dudley. Dudley was expected to bring winds of , which caused travel restrictions. The Environment Agency issued 38 flood alerts for the UK. In

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, a falling power line electrocuted 13 dogs. During the cleanup of Storm Dudley, Storm Eunice struck, further compounding the damage.

Germany

Storm Dudley causes three deaths in Germany, and spawned winds up to in the country. The

Elbe River The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repub ...

flowed higher than normal, and a ferry had its windows shattered. The storm also spawned one tornado in Germany, in

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 square ...

, which was rated as an F1/T3 tornado.European storm database
European Severe Weather Database

Poland

The storm produced a very intense

squall line A squall line, or more accurately a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS), is a line of thunderstorms, often forming along or ahead of a cold front. In the early 20th century, the term was used as a synonym for cold front (which often are accompa ...

of severe thunderstorms that moved through Poland, producing damaging straight-line winds and numerous embedded tornadoes. A man in Western Poland near

Gorzów Wielkopolski Gorzów Wielkopolski (; german: Landsberg an der Warthe) often abbreviated to Gorzów Wlkp. or simply Gorzów, is a city in western Poland, on the Warta river. It is the second largest city in the Lubusz Voivodeship with 120,087 inhabitants (Dece ...

died when a tree fell on his car. Meanwhile, a tornado in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

caused a long crane to collapse, killing two people and injuring two others. Another tornado in Sierosław injured one, and an F2 tornado in Wójcice injured two. Overall, 23 tornadoes were confirmed in Poland.

Lithuania

Storm Dudley killed two people in Lithuania due to strong winds.

Tornado outbreak

Highest wind gust per country

References

External links

Tornado Hits Kraków, Poland - Feb. 17, 2022 tornado w Krakowie
{{Authority control 2022 disasters in Europe 2022 meteorology February 2022 events in Europe European windstorms Winter weather events in the United Kingdom