Worth noting that while Odiham had a gust of 78mph in the hour up to 0700 this morning, the nearby site at Farnborough only had a gust of 55mph. This difference over a small areas may help account for why some people are surprised that they didnt see anything from the sting jet and why there was a lot less damage than in neighbouring areas.

Could be days until it comes back on at this rate. No ETA from Southern Electric as to when it'll be fixed at all at the moment. Just that there will be another update after 7pm.

The strongest gusts here on Sheppey were around 6:30 to 6:35 this morning. The Isle of Sheppey Yacht Club (which has a nice weather station with detailed wind logs) recorded its strongest gust at 6:32 AM. Coincidence? Maybe not!

I'm currently in Egham, Surrey (not at home as indicated in my location).

Looking out of my window, it's difficult to believe that there was actually a storm at all, Not a single branch or tree down in the gardens. Same goes for Hampton Hill, although apparently Bushy Park and all of the rest of the Royal Parks were closed for the majority of the day. A recent tweet suggests they only lost about 50 of their 130,000 trees.

Englefield Green, just SW of here suffered more damage (maybe due to its exposure?) and many of the homes there were without running water for most of the morning.

It seemed to really kick up around 5am, and was especially windy just after 6am, but it died its death pretty quickly here, becoming only moderately breezy from about 8:30am onwards.

Good luck to all those without power still! 

The BBC summarises the storm as:

* 4 people dead
* 600,000 homes without power
* 99 MPH peak gust at the Needles
* Widespread gusts of 70 MPH

All in all, it was certainly not a typical autumnal storm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24699748

Landed at LHR this morning from Miami - the pilot was very good - reassured us the winds hadn't been as bad as feared, but there was still a 'stiff breeze' - tbh the landing was nothing exceptional. The worst of my experience was the uncertaintly leading up to the journey. I had spotted as far back as Tuesday something showing up on the GFS, which then took on a life of it's own. I have been in Florida this time of year recently and normally it's the weather there I worry about - last year Sandy passed up the east coast on its way to cause destruction further north. The only weather this year was a band of high level cirrus caused I believe by the jet stream which we rode all the way home. It was amusing reading on the Daily Mail website this storm was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico...

I expect you had your freezer on boost before the storm was due - as we did. That helps. During a cut you need to add to the insulation with anything suitable - a duvet over the lid would be a start. Newspapers. Anything to reduce warming. Don't open it is good advice. And dust off your house/contents insurance to remind yourself of any freezer cover.

It certainly wasn't  and on TWO alone it has been a much talked about weather event

Hi George, the winds were strongest here in Teddington around 6:15am with some almighty gusts highest was 66mph, must have been the time Heathrow got 70mph. Pretty impressive for an inland location, I class anything over 50mph as being exceptional around here.

A few trees down around here one right outside our flats. There was a couple of trees down in Hampton near my parents. The parks were closed when I went for a walk this afternoon will try and get down there tomorrow and have a look around.

estofex 0600 today fro s/e england I did c it but I was nervious as family and older people next door needed looking after.

s/e england was at Level 2 warning

http://www.estofex.org/

 Forecaster: GROENEMEIJER

DISCUSSION
... SE England, N France, Benelux, N Germany, Denmark...
NWP guidance suggests that the cold front in the wake of the surface cyclone will be accompanied by narrow segments of convection with tops in the mid-troposphere. On Monday at 06 UTC, this line should be located over SE England and the English Channel extending into Brittany. It is expected to move ENE ward across the level 2 area reaching NW Germany in the mid-afternoon, and then gradually weaken. However, is not ruled out that some convective activity will also affect southern Sweden.
The strong surface wind field in which the convection will be embedded will be further by the storms to produce widespread severe and isolated extremely (>32 m/s) severe wind gusts. Given the extreme wind shear expected ahead of the convective lines (20-25 m/s 0-1 km shear) and high 0-1 SRH (400 - 500 m2/s2) some tornadoes may also develop. The threat of large hail, however, will be relatively small since the updraughts will be not that deep and probably strongest a low levels. Modest mixing ratios and high storm speeds will mitigate the threat of extreme rainfall.

SYNOPSIS
An amplifying trough approaches Europe from the Atlantic ocean with a very strong SWly jet situated ahead of it. A frontal wave within the associated baroclinic zone is expected to translate very rapidly NEward during the day. The associated surface cyclone should be located over the southern North Sea by 06 UTC, near Stockholm by 18 UTC and over Karelia 06 UTC on Tuesday. The wind field on the cyclone's SE flank is expected to be very strong with severe (25 m/s) and isolated extreme (32 m/s) wind gusts occurring even in the absence of convective storms.

Indeed.  IMBY Ive spent an hour clearing up the remains of one of my trees and converting it into logs.  Will retrieve the large branch from next doors' tomorrow. 

Hey Ed, unfortunately I don't have a properly placed anemometer so my wind readings are a bit useless when it comes to maximums, so I can't tell you a proper maximum for Hampton Hill. The roof anemometer I have installed measured a 50mph gust, but I imagine the max was realistically somewhere closer to that of Heathrow and yours in Teddington. Definitely some exceptional winds, and I was surprised (and very happy) to hear about the minimal damage at home! 

Should be interesting to see the park tomorrow!

No, I was not suggesting it was, although Alex Deacon, on the lunchtime news was saying it was not far off, which suprised me somewhat.  I suggest he gets a copy of Ian Currrie's books on the subject. 

I agree with that Darren and Gooner , It certainly came in with a large roar at 06.20  lasted till 07.00 , quite a few trees down and tiles of roofs missing i guestimated by the double bent tree's that 65mph or so max gusts , i was amazed at how it tried to suck the bedroom curtains through the gap as i dont sleep with the window closed . good blow :-)

http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/News/Bishops-Stortford/UK-STORM-UPDATE-Transport-chaos-and-power-out-as-storm-hits-Hertfordshire-and-Essex-20131028092211.htm

writtle up the road from me about a mile still no power.

watch this viddy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24700611

16:25

Wendy just mentioned sting jet on the London Weather