• Source: Cyclone Martin (1999)

      • Cyclone Martin was an extremely violent European windstorm which crossed southern Europe on 27–28 December 1999, causing severe damage across France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy one day after Cyclone Lothar had affected more northerly areas. Wind speeds reached around 200 km/h (120 mph) in French department of Charente-Maritime. The storm caused 30 fatalities and €6 billion in damages. Combined with Lothar, Cyclone Martin is often referred to as the Storm of the Century in western and central Europe.


      Meteorological history


      December 1999 saw a series of heavy winter storms cross the North Atlantic and western Europe. In early December, Great Britain and Denmark were hit by Cyclone Anatol which caused severe damage in Denmark. A second storm then crossed Europe on 12 December.
      A very deep and sizeable depression, named Cyclone Kurt, moved across Britain on the night of 24–25 December, analysed to have possibly reached a low of 938 mb between Scotland and Norway. This set up a large area of westerly flow into Europe, along which Cyclone Lothar was rapidly carried into mainland Europe. This highly unstable situation inevitably meant low predictability, and saw an unusually straight and strong jet stream (similar circumstances were also noted the day before the arrival of the Great Storm of 1987).

      Following along the Jet Stream immediately behind Lothar, Cyclone Martin then struck France and central Europe from 26 to 28 December 1999.
      Atmospheric conditions remained unstable over western Europe, and at the end of January 2000 two additional damaging storms crossed Denmark and the northern part of Germany.


      Aftermath


      Cyclone Martin caused extensive damage to property and trees across southern France. In terms of felled trees, 13 million m3 (460 million cu ft) of wood in Switzerland and 140 million m3 (4,900 million cu ft) were felled in France. The French and German national power grids were also left badly affected, with more than 200 electricity pylons destroyed.
      Buildings and infrastructure suffered major damage throughout Martin's path, and mains power and safety systems were knocked out in many places. The storm surge from Cyclone Martin led to severe flooding at the Blayais Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in a Level 2 nuclear incident on the International Nuclear Event Scale.


      Highest winds


      Below is a table of the highest wind speeds recorded during Cyclone Martin.


      See also


      Cyclone Anatol
      Storm Lothar


      References




      External links


      Met Office, University of Exeter & University of Reading Extreme Wind Storm Catalogue: Martin
      Eumetrain: Storm Catastrope Atlantic and Western Europe - Case Study 25 - 28 December 1999
      (in French) Les tempêtes en France
      Details of damage in France (pdf)

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