Cyclone Kyrill

Kyrill is the name of a low pressure area that has evolved into an European windstorm. The low pressure area formed over Newfoundland on January 5, 2007 and moved across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching England and Wales by the evening of January 17. The storm was named on January 17, 2007 by the Free University of Berlin's metereological institute. As of January 18, 2007, 00:00 GMT, the storm was located over the British Isles and is expected to move across the North Sea and make landfall in northern Germany in the late afternoon hours of January 18. A storm tide with sea levels of up to 2 metres above mean sea level has been announced for the coastal areas of Lower Saxony by the state government.

The storm swept across England, Wales and Scotland on the night of the 17th and 18th of January, with winds of 130 km/h (81 mph) recorded at Aberdaron in the Llyn peninsula, 122 km/h (76 mph) in Mumbles near Swansea and winds of 101 km/h (63 mph) at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan. Train services between Cardiff and London Paddington had to be cancelled, and the East Coast Mainline was operating on a reduced timetable. The ferry service between Fishguard and Rosslare had to be cancelled as well. The managing director of Birmingham International Airport died in Shropshire when his car windshield was hit by a falling branch. Two other men died in road accidents in Berkshire and Yorkshire, and a woman was crushed by a wall in Stockport. Wind strengths of up to 12 beaufort are expected across the Netherlands, Germany and parts of Austria, with wind gusts exceeding 150 km/h in exposed places, and the German Meterological Service has advised people to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary trips on January 18. The storm is expected to move across the German states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia first, then spread across the whole country. Ferry services to Heligoland and to the islands Hooge and Amrum are suspended since the morning hours of January 18. Deutsche Bahn has limited the maximum speed of its trains to 200 km/h, and several flights at Frankfurt International Airport were cancelled due to the bad weather.