Night of the Big Wind strikes Ireland (1839)

The Night of the Big Wind was a severe European windstorm that struck Ireland on 6 January 1839. It caused widespread property damage, particularly in north Dublin, and resulted in several hundred deaths. The storm is considered the most damaging cyclone to hit Ireland in 300 years.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Heavy snow fell across Ireland on the night of 5 January 1839. On the morning of 6 January, an Atlantic warm front replaced the snow, bringing a period of complete calm with dense, motionless cloud cover. This calm preceded the arrival of the powerful windstorm that swept across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Storm Track. The storm attained a very low barometric pressure of 918–922 hPa. It tracked eastwards to the north of Ireland, generating gusts of over 100 knots. The system subsequently moved across the north of England to continental Europe, where it eventually dissipated.

Impact. The windstorm caused severe damage to property and several hundred deaths. In north Dublin, 20 to 25% of houses were damaged or destroyed. Additionally, 42 ships were wrecked during the event. The storm is described as probably the worst to hit Ireland in the last 300 years.

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.