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Cyclone Martin was an extremely violent European windstorm which crossed southern Europe on 27–28 December 1999, causing severe damage across
Following along the Jet Stream immediately behind Lothar, Cyclone Martin then struck France and central Europe from 26 to 28 December 1999.
Atmospheric conditions remained unstable over western Europe, and at the end of January 2000 two additional damaging storms crossed Denmark and the northern part of Germany.
COMMUNIQUE N°7 – INCIDENT SUR LE SITE DU BLAYAIS
ASN, published 30 December 1999, Retrieved 22 March 2011
Martin
* Eumetrain
* ttp://www.annales.org/ri/2002/425/bessemoulin009-14.pdf Les tempêtes en France
Details of damage in France (pdf)
{{European windstorms Martin Martin 1999 meteorology 1999 in France Martin Martin December 1999 in Europe 1990s disasters in Italy 1999 in Italy 1999 disasters in France
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
and Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
one day after Cyclone Lothar had affected more northerly areas. Wind speeds reached around in French department of Charente-Maritime
Charente-Maritime (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Chérente-Marine''; ) is a Departments of France, department in the French Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente (river), Charen ...
. The storm caused 30 fatalities and €6 billion in damages. Combined with Lothar, Cyclone Martin is often referred to as the ''Storm of the Century'' in western and central Europe.
Meteorological history
December 1999 saw a series of heavy winter storms cross the North Atlantic and western Europe. In early December, Great Britain and Denmark were hit by Cyclone Anatol which caused severe damage in Denmark. A second storm then crossed Europe on 12 December. A very deep and sizeable depression, named ''Cyclone Kurt'', moved across Britain on the night of 24–25 December, analysed to have possibly reached a low of 938 mb between Scotland and Norway. This set up a large area of westerly flow into Europe, along which Cyclone Lothar was rapidly carried into mainland Europe. This highly unstable situation inevitably meant low predictability, and saw an unusually straight and strongjet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow thermal wind, air currents in the Earth's Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere.
The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds, flowing west to east around the gl ...
(similar circumstances were also noted the day before the arrival of the Great Storm of 1987).
Following along the Jet Stream immediately behind Lothar, Cyclone Martin then struck France and central Europe from 26 to 28 December 1999.
Atmospheric conditions remained unstable over western Europe, and at the end of January 2000 two additional damaging storms crossed Denmark and the northern part of Germany.
Aftermath
Cyclone Martin caused extensive damage to property and trees across southern France. In terms of felled trees, of wood in Switzerland and were felled in France. The French and German national power grids were also left badly affected, with more than 200 electricity pylons destroyed. Buildings and infrastructure suffered major damage throughout Martin's path, and mains power and safety systems were knocked out in many places. The storm surge from Cyclone Martin led to severe flooding at the Blayais Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in a Level 2 nuclear incident on the International Nuclear Event Scale.ASN, published 30 December 1999, Retrieved 22 March 2011
Highest winds
Below is a table of the highest wind speeds recorded during Cyclone Martin.See also
* Cyclone Anatol * Storm LotharReferences
External links
* Met Office, University of Exeter & University of Reading Extreme Wind Storm CatalogueMartin
* Eumetrain
* ttp://www.annales.org/ri/2002/425/bessemoulin009-14.pdf Les tempêtes en France
Details of damage in France (pdf)
{{European windstorms Martin Martin 1999 meteorology 1999 in France Martin Martin December 1999 in Europe 1990s disasters in Italy 1999 in Italy 1999 disasters in France