Storm study reveals sting in the tail

24 May 2013

Meteorologists have gained a better understanding of how storms like the one that battered Britain in 1987 develop, making them easier to predict.

Professor David Schultz, from the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, and colleagues have described how these types of cyclones can strengthen to become violent windstorms.

The researchers say that the winds, known as sting jets, are generated from a descending motion of air several kilometres above the surface to the north and north-east of the depression. The study also found that the winds are strongest where the front is actually weakening most intensely.

Watch a video about the research at: Sting Jets