Imagine wind gusts of more than 200 km/h destroying everything on the beaches. This is exactly what happened 37 years ago in Brittany and Normandy. So much so that the phenomenon was dubbed the “Hurricane of 1987.”
This apocalypse-like storm came on the night of October 15-16, 1987. The extent of its violence and damage literally shocked the inhabitants of northwestern France.
When it reached the shore, the wind blew:
- 220 km/h at Pointe du Raz (Finistère).
- 216 km/h in Granville (Manche).
- 200 km/h in Penmarc’h and Ouessant (Finistère).
- 187 km/h in Quimper (Finistère).
These are already incredible records, perhaps, not even the highest values: the weather stations and their anemometers were damaged by the winds and it is possible that they became even stronger! Maximum recorded wind gusts are consistent with Category 3 to 4 hurricanes.
Television archive since 1987. © France 3 Bretagne
A “weather bomb” with bombard-like damage.
However, this was not a true hurricane, or even a former hurricane, but an explosive storm. A depression deepened very strongly. On the contraryOn the contrary Very high temperatures between fairly warm waters and a Happened on a large scaleHappened on a large scale very cool This depression suddenly intensified as the jet stream passed down. There pressurepressure Then fell to 948 hPa, a record for France: this is it. MeteorologistsMeteorologists It’s called a “weather bomb.”
At this point, caveats Weather reportWeather report was not present and many residents were surprised. When he awoke on October 16, he described scenes worthy of a bomb blast. The “Hurricane of 1987” caused 15 deaths in France (19 in England) and €6.7 billion in damage. A quarter of Brittany’s forests have been destroyed. Météo France estimates that such an event occurs on average once every 100 years.