Cyclone Quimburga, also referred to as the Lower Saxony Storm, was a deadly

European windstorm European windstorms are powerful extratropical cyclones which form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure. They can occur throughout the year, but are most frequent between October and March, with peak intensit ...

that struck northern and central Europe between 12 and 14 November, 1972. The storm has been described as one of the most devastating storm events during the 20th century. The storm developed over the UK where it caused some localised damage in the south before moving across the North Sea where it underwent explosive cyclogenesis dropping from 969 hPa to 953 hPa. This development was fueled by the contrast between cold air in the parent low and the warm water of the North Sea. The storm brought wind gusts of over to large areas of the Netherlands, with gusts over across northern Germany. The greatest damage was reported across the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, after which it is known in German as the Lower Saxony storm. The storm destroyed the

Königs Wusterhausen Central Tower Königs Wusterhausen Central Tower was a , freestanding steel framework tower on the Funkerberg of Königs Wusterhausen, Germany. The tower, with its unique triangular cross section, was built from 1924 to 1925. The tower collapsed during the s ...

, a communications tower to the southwest of Berlin and the church steeple in

Berlin-Friedrichshagen Friedrichshagen () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Treptow-Köpenick. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Köpenick. History The colony of ''Friedrichsgnade'' was founded on May 29, 1753 ...

The courtyard of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute headquarters in De Bilt features a representation of the pressure map of the Quimburga storm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quimburga 1972 meteorology European windstorms 1972 in Canada 1972 in the United Kingdom 1972 in France 1972 in Germany 1972 in the Netherlands 1972 in Belgium 1972 in Italy 1972 in Switzerland 1972 in Austria 1972 in Denmark November 1972 events in Europe 1972 in Newfoundland and Labrador 1972 disasters in Canada 1972 disasters in Europe