St. Jude storm
The St. Jude storm over Europe, at 12:10 UTC, on 28 October 2013
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| Type |
European windstorm Extratropical cyclone |
|---|---|
| Formed | 26 October 2013 |
| Dissipated | 31 October 2013 |
| Lowest pressure | Est. 965 mb (28.5 inHg) Obs. 967.6mb |
| Highest winds | |
| Highest gust | 120.8 miles per hour (194.4 km/h), Als, Denmark |
| Areas affected | Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Russia |
 Railway damage in Denmark
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The St. Jude storm, also known as Cyclone Christian, and other names, was a severe Hurricane-force 12 European windstorm that hit Northwestern Europe on 27 and 28 October 2013 causing at least 17 deaths. The highest windspeed was in Denmark, where a gust of 120.8 mph (194.4 km/h) was recorded in the south of the country on the afternoon of 28 October, the strongest wind recorded in the country's history.
Although it was reported that the storm was named by a clerk at the UK's Met Office, the Met Office themselves have stated that they do not know who named the storm. The storm was named by the Weather Channel UK meteorologist Leon Brown, after the feast of Saint Jude the Apostle, which takes place on 28 October, the day when the storm was expected to be at its height. The name is reported to have been popularised on Twitter before being adopted by the media in the United Kingdom.
The storm was named "Christian" on 26 October 2013 by the Free University of Berlin's meteorological institute. According to The Guardian, European Union institutions are officially referring to the storm as "Christian".
The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute named the storm "Simone", based on the Swedish name day list. The European Windstorm Centre, a UK-based forecaster, gave the storm the name "Carmen". The Danish Meteorological Institute referred to it as the October storm 2013 (Oktoberstormen 2013), but it was later named "Allan" per request from the Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Martin Lidegaard.
A depression formed off the east coast of the United States and headed east, assisted by the jet stream. The St. Jude storm formed in the western Atlantic as a secondary low on the southern flanks of an area of low pressure to the east of southern Greenland; this Icelandic Low was named "Burkhard" by the Free University of Berlin. The St. Jude storm formed from a wave front on 26 October in the northwest Atlantic off the Eastern seaboard of North America. The developing low moved under the jet stream passing by the remnants of ex-tropical storm Lorenzo situated in the mid Atlantic. The tropical air from this storm provided an input of energy, strengthening the jetstream, and helping to intensify the deepening of the low in an area closer to Europe than usual. This, together with a strong jet stream, led to a rapid deepening of the St. Jude low before it hit western Europe as a strengthening storm. The storm has been cited as both meeting and not meeting the strict criteria of explosive deepening. The storm system was swept across the Atlantic at a rapid pace moving eastwards with an average speed of 77 km/h (48 mph), and crossed over 2000 km (1240miles) in less than 26 hours.
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