Authorities clear a fallen tree from a street in Brighton after storms in south east England last week.By Steff GaulterA powerful storm hit the UK last week and swept across northern Europe. The centre of the low pressure forced its way across southern England, but more severe weather struck further south as the winds funnelled up the England Channel.The strongest gust of wind was recorded on the Isle of Wight, just off the south coast of England, measuring 159kph (99mph), and strong winds were also reported on the other side of the Channel. In northern France, Cherbourg recorded a gust of 100kph (62mph) and in Belgium, Ostend registered a wind of 98kph.In anticipation of the storm a number of flights were cancelled into and out of Heathrow and the overground rail network was suspended in much of southern England. Commuters were told that the first train of the day wouldn’t leave until 9am, several hours after the usual morning rush hour.However, for many commuters, the trains didn’t arrive even at 9am. The powerful winds had ripped down hundreds of trees. Over 200 fell directly onto railway tracks, meaning the trains simply couldn’t pass. Like many people on Monday, my sister waited patiently at a platform for a couple of hours, before giving up and heading home.Although at 9am, England was starting the clear-up operation, further east the storm was only just getting going. As the storm raged over the Netherlands, the capital Amsterdam was badly hit. Powerful winds sent trees tumbling into the canals. Rail and tram lines were also disrupted, and the central railway station was damaged, forcing it to be closed. The storm hit the Netherlands slightly later than the UK, at a time when most people were already in the office; many commuters faced a long struggle home at the end of the day.The storm then swept across Denmark and northern Germany, before slamming into southern Sweden. In the Danish capital, Copenhagen, a gust of 194kph (120mph) was recorded. Roofs were ripped off houses and scaffolding was torn from buildings. Trains and ferries were cancelled, and parts of the German autobahn (motorway) network were closed when the winds topped 100kph (62mph). The storm then headed over Finland and into Russia.In total, 13 people are believed to have lost their lives in the storm, which was one of the worst in recent years. The death toll was kept low partly because the system was so accurately forecast, ensuring warnings were issued and contingency measures could be put in place. Across the region, people were urged to stay indoors.The fact that the storm was so well forecast is a credit to the computer models that currently help us to forecast the weather. These models identified the potential of a storm before it had even formed. If we didn’t have such accurate models, it’s still possible that the emergence of a storm would have been identified by an eagle-eyed forecaster; after all it developed from an existing weather front which was passing under a region of the atmosphere which is well known for causing systems to deepen rapidly. However, because it was a small, fast moving system, the track would certainly not have been so accurate.At 0 GMT on Monday the storm was just approaching the coast of the UK. By 0 GMT on Tuesday, just 24 hours later, the storm was nearing the coast of southwest Finland. This is a distance of approximately 1,900 km (1,180 miles), meaning the storm was hurtling past at around 80kph (50mph). If the models had predicted the storm was travelling just 10kph less than that, they would have been wrong by 240km (150mph) and instead of hitting Finland at 0 GMT on Tuesday, it would have been predicted to still be over southern Sweden at that time.Despite the warnings, some unfortunate people didn’t fare too well during the storm. As many as 450 people were on ferries attempting to dock in Dover during the height of the storm. The port closed during the worst of the weather, so the vessels had to remain in the English Channel as the sea churned. It was a similar story near the Dutch port of Ijmuiden where another 1,100 people were stranded, having set sail from Newcastle in northeast England.I’m sure that anyone who’s been on a ferry would agree that there aren’t many worse places to be than on a ship which is being battered by winds of 160kph (100mph). Given the accuracy of the storm warnings, the captains and owners of those vessels would have known the forecast and therefore that it was highly likely that the intended ports would be shut when they arrived. If you had been booked on these ferries, you would want them to have been cancelled. Whilst the vessels may have never been in any danger of sinking, the fact that they set sail shows a clear disregard for the welfare of the passengers. I bet the cafeterias were empty!Storms like this are unusual in northern Europe, but they’re not unknown. The worst one I can remember is the Great Storm of 1987, which tore down an eye-watering 15mn trees in England. It also had a far larger death toll, mainly because the forecasts at the time weren’t as accurate.Although there will always be the risk that a huge storm could develop and arrive in western Europe unannounced, recent improvements in weather forecasting means it is far less likely. Better forecasts improve the potential for more evasive action to ensure the public’s safety, such as suspending rail services and urging people to stay at home. However, I would still suggest double-checking the weather before ever taking a ferry.