STORMAGEDDON: Southampton braced for 90mph+ winds

The entire south of England has been put under an amber weather warning this weekend as forecasters predict a massive storm will batter English shores with HURRICANE-FORCE winds.

The Great Storm of 1987. Credit to David Wright at geograph.org.uk

Some tabloids are reporting that gusts on Sunday night could reach up to 100mph or Beaufort 12, which you may remember from primary school geography lessons, usually accompanied by lurid pictures of trees being uprooted and cars tossed around.

Even the usually reticent folk at the Met Office are speaking of a “historic weather event”—citing the devastating Burns Day storm of 1990, where gusts reached 107mph on the Cornish and Welsh coasts and 97 people lost their lives.

The gym on Tuesday night

The weather has been temperamental all week; on Wednesday the Soton Tab brought you pictures of the flooded uni gym, which had had to be closed after water seeped in and collected on the roof.

And Hayling Island off the Havant coast was devastated last weekend by a 30-foot mini-tornado which uprooted trees, damaged power lines and lifted objects as large as caravans off the ground.

Whether all this hysteria translates in real life to a minor Marilyn Monroe wardrobe malfunction or the great star Wormwood falling from the skies, it’s best to batten down the hatches, be prepared, and make sure to bill your landlord for that gaping hole in your roof.