Hundreds of thousands of people were without power and tens of thousands without water on Friday in Ireland, as a powerful storm moved its way across the island, bringing record-breaking winds and disrupting travel.
The storm, named Eowyn, brought gales to Ireland throughout Friday morning and afternoon, according to the Irish Meteorological Service. Northern Ireland, southern Scotland and the northern and western areas of England and Wales experienced strong winds, with gusts of up to 60 miles per hour, according to Britain’s national meteorological service. The agency issued a red warning, its highest level of alert indicating dangerous weather, for Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland, before downgrading it Friday afternoon.
After forecasters warned of gusts of up to 100 m.p.h. along the Irish Sea and in southwestern Scotland, a gust of 114 m.p.h. was recorded in western Ireland at Mace Head, County Galway, beating an Irish record set in 1945.
ESB Networks, an Irish state-owned power company, said that about 725,000 of its customers were without power on Friday, nearly a third of the utility’s roughly 2.4 million total customers. The power outages also disrupted the nation’s water supply, with about 60,000 people across the country without water by the afternoon and many more at risk of losing service, according to Irish Water.
“The widespread power outages at treatment plants and pumping stations continue to impact on supplies,” Irish Water wrote in a statement.
Eowyn will also bring rain showers and longer spells of rain across the north of Ireland, according to Irish forecasters. And there was a chance of hail and snow in the hills of Scotland, according to forecasters. Britain’s Meteorological Office warned of “very dangerous conditions with widespread disruptions and significant impacts.”
The strong winds disrupted travel across Ireland, Scotland and the north of England. Ireland’s National Transport Authority suspended all public transport on Friday. Northern Rail, an English train company, urged customers to avoid traveling on Friday and Saturday.
Hundreds of flights were grounded on Friday at airports across Ireland and Britain. Belfast International Airport, in Northern Ireland, urged travelers to stay home on Friday and said it was experiencing intermittent power outages. Travelers should check with their airlines on the status of their flights, the airport advised.
A strong jet stream — a high altitude current of fast-moving air that drives global weather patterns west to east (and can also speed up plane journeys) — helped Eowyn gain its strength. The jet stream, which is usually 190 to 220 m.p.h., increased to 260 m.p.h. this week, strengthened by a stark temperature contrast created by the arctic blast that has gripped the United States in recent days and the warm moist air in the Gulf of Mexico.
The same weather system plunged much of the United States into cold conditions this week, delivering low temperatures not seen in decades, and life-threatening wind chills.
The last time Britain experienced a storm of this strength was early December with Storm Darragh, which was also influenced by a strong jet stream. Wind speeds for that storm reached 93 m.p.h. in Wales.
For Ireland, Eowyn is the most severe storm since 2017, when one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the northeastern Atlantic killed at least three people.
Eowyn was expected to clear into the Norwegian Sea on Saturday, allowing a brief lull of drier and calmer conditions, but another storm system is forecast to bring similar hazards for Britain on Sunday and Monday.
Nazaneen Ghaffar contributed reporting.
