The New Year's Day Storm ( no, Nyttårsorkanen) was a powerful European windstorm that affected much of northern

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and western

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

on 1 January 1992. DNMI estimated the strongest sustained winds (10 min. average) and the strongest gusts to have reached 90 knots (46 m/s) and 62 m/s, respectively. Unofficial records of gusts in excess of 130 knots (67 m/s) were recorded in Shetland, while Statfjord-B in the North Sea recorded wind gusts in excess of 145 knots (75 m/s). There were very few fatalities, mainly due to the rather low population of the islands, and the fact that the islanders are used to powerful wind, and because it struck in the morning on a public holiday when people were indoors. In Norway there was one fatality, in

Frei Frei is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2008 when it was incorporated into Kristiansund Municipality. It was located between the Kvernesfjorden and Freifjo ...

, Møre og Romsdal county. There were also two fatalities on

Unst Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of . Unst ...

in the Shetland Isles.

Impact

Norway

The New Year's Day Storm was the most devastating windstorm in modern Norwegian history, in terms of material damage. 29,000 buildings were affected, as well as large quantities of productive forest. In Norway the total damage cost was estimated to more than 2 billion NOK (1992 values). Norwegian mass media wrote afterwards that it was a 300-years hurricane. Meteorologists suggested rather that it had a wind speed with a repeat period of about 200 years on Norwegian territory. It had the highest wind speed measured in Norway until then, and has not repeated at least for the first 20 years after it. A relief action called ''Aksjon Orkan'' was set up, based in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, a city which was not affected by the windstorm. Reactions among the populace in the affected areas were mixed. The action was supported by the County Governor of Møre og Romsdal, but the mayor of

Vanylven Vanylven is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the village of Fiskåbygd. Other villages i ...

scorned the perceived intent to collect "food and clothes for the windstorm victims", stating the lack of need for such aid. The people behind the action later claimed that this was never the purpose. By the middle of January ''Aksjon Orkan'' had collected NOK 600–800,000.

United Kingdom

In the UK, Scotland was worst affected. The wind was most severe in the

Northern Isles The Northern Isles ( sco, Northren Isles; gd, Na h-Eileanan a Tuath; non, Norðreyjar; nrn, Nordøjar) are a pair of archipelagos off the north coast of mainland Scotland, comprising Orkney and Shetland. They are part of Scotland, as are th ...

, especially in Shetland.

References

Books

*. {{European windstorms New Year's Day 1992 natural disasters 1992 in Norway 1992 in Scotland European windstorms 1992 meteorology Weather events in Scotland January 1992 events in Europe