Hurricane-force winds from Winter Storm Éowyn lashed Ireland and the United Kingdom Friday, causing widespread power outages, travel chaos, and significant disruptions to daily life, Bloomberg reports.
The powerful storm has left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without electricity, grounded flights, and brought public transportation to a standstill.
Ireland bore the brunt of the storm, with record wind gusts reaching 114 miles per hour in Galway, according to Met Eireann, the Irish meteorological service. As of 8 am local time, ESB, the state-owned energy utility, reported that 715,000 homes, farms, and businesses were without power across the country.
Authorities in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and parts of Scotland issued red-level weather alerts as the storm approached, urging people to shelter in place. Schools, universities, and numerous businesses were forced to close, and public transport networks were suspended.
Air travel has been severely impacted, with hundreds of flights canceled at airports in Ireland and the UK. Major hubs like Dublin, Edinburgh, and Belfast airports have seen numerous groundings, including dozens of transatlantic services into London’s Heathrow. Aer Lingus Group, British Airways, and Ryanair Holdings Plc have all issued warnings of further potential disruptions.
Train services have also been heavily disrupted. All trains across Ireland and Northern Ireland were canceled, and most rail routes between England and Scotland were suspended. Train services across much of the north of England have been brought to a complete stop. Even in southern England, services have been disrupted, with some routes operating at significantly reduced speeds, potentially impacting commutes into London.
The UK Met Office issued amber warnings for parts of England and Wales, citing risks of power cuts and travel disruptions. London was under a yellow warning, with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour predicted.
The severe weather has also impacted energy markets. Irish power prices for the morning peak surged to €355 per megawatt-hour, the highest level since 2022, according to data from Ireland’s SEMO exchange. While high winds usually boost wind power generation, the extreme conditions forced turbines to be taken offline. EirGrid data shows generation is down to about 25% of previous forecasts. In the UK, wind generation is 25% lower than initial forecasts, according to Elexon.
The storm was amplified by a wave of Arctic air that previously brought blizzard conditions to parts of the US earlier this week. This weather system strengthened the jet stream and transformed Éowyn into a “weather bomb” with destructive winds.
