Could be raised in england under plans aimed at reducing congestion. Parts of the uk are preparing for the arrival of storm brian with winds of up to 70 miles per hour. Cornwall is one of the first areas to feel the impact. Now on bbc news, a weather World Special. From florida and the bbc Weather Centre, the team examines why this years atlantic Hurricane Season has been so active. This time on weather world, im in florida in the United States where the power of Hurricane Irma has had devastating consequences. And we will be speaking to scientists about cyclones here in the centre. We will be looking at the seasons other major hurricanes, including harvey and maria. Plus the Science Behind these monster storms, and how Climate Change could be affecting them. From harveys unprecedented tropical deluge in texas. It slammed into the caribbean, before heading to florida. To the explosive intensification of maria, as the caribbean took another devastating hit. This is the story of a Hurricane Season that at times has produced more power, more rain and more destruction than ever recorded. We can talk about wind speed, we can talk about pressure, but it is a completely different thing to experience a hurricane first hand. Welcome to this special edition of weather world. From here in florida, where the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Irma will take months to repair. It was here in september, when Hurricane Irma became part of one of the most destructive Hurricane Seasons. And some say the most damaging since hurricanes katrina slammed into new orleans killing 1800 people over a decade ago. Before Hurricane Irma, there was harvey. Here at the bbc Weather Centre, we have been following the twists and turns of a remarkable and record setting atlantic Hurricane Season. Hurricane harvey, bound for the texas in august brought warnings of catastrophic flooding. It went on to become the usas wetters Tropical Cyclone ever recorded. 4323 days, almost 12 years. Thats how long it had been said a major hurricane had hit the usa. But, harvey changed all that. Having rapidly intensified its mid lands formed in texas, as a category four storm, with winds of 130mph. It was the most powerful hurricane to hit texas since 1961. Did you sleep . No, i secured the roof, and about 1030, there is a tree in my yard. And then their house is completely gone. But after the initial destruction, worse was to come. The storm stalled, was only slowly edging towards louisiana, still able to tap into. It became a prolific rain maker. As streets turn into rivers, the us to prescribe the situation as unprecedented. City in the usa, was in the bulls eye. As the deluge went on, more and more people had to abandon their homes. With anything that could float becoming part of a makeshift armada leading people to safety. This is what harvey did to houston, killing it at least 30 people in this area alone, and almost 80 in total. This shows the remarkable transformation. As much a 64 inches over 1600 millimetres of rain fell in a week long deluge, causing billions of dollars of damage. Hurricanes, a Formidable Force of nature that can cause devastation. How do they form . Why has 2017 been so intense . Lets take a look at the Science Behind the storms. Hurricanes form due to an area of low pressure that strengthens rapidly over tropical or subtropical waters. A cluster of thunderstorms can form, and then they draw in a flow of warm and moist air, as they move over these warm waters, creating a low pressure centre. If conditions are just right, it Tropical Storm is born, which can then strengthen into a full blown hurricane. This year, there has been a particularly strong west african monsoon, meaning bigger and more frequent storms in the Hurricane Development zone. Several specific conditions are needed for hurricane formation. Averages need to be higher than 26 celsius to provide the fuel for these big storms. This year, waters across the western atlantic and the caribbean had often been high for the time of year. Also, we need a lack of wind shear. Wind shear is when winds that dont very much in speed and direction, but at height. But lower wind shear allows a storm to rise vertically. Also, el nino has been stuck in a neutral phase. The storm has to be a sufficient distance away form the equator for the coriolous effect kicking to provide the spin. All of these conditions have often come together doing this years Hurricane Season, producing several hurricanes of more than six miles high, and hundreds of miles wide. Earlier, we had how harvey set new records for rainfall. The next hurricane, irma, was also to take its place in the record books for power and intensity, and thomas experienced it. Hurricane irma, bearing down on the caribbean in Early September as a maximum category five and storm with winds of 185 mph. The strongest hurricane ever recorded this far east in the atlantic. This is what it sounded like as irma moved across the northern islands. This, is what a category five hurricane leaves behind. The islands of barbuda, from caribbean paradise to ruins. Itsjust gone. What do you do now . I dont know, im just waiting to get evacuated from here, and then im going to come back, and try and salvage something and help, i dont know. My whole life is here, so. It wasnt just barbuda. Irma caused extensive damage here in the British Virgin islands, plus at saint martin, st barts, anguilla, and the turks and caicos islands. After briefly weakening, irma was back to category five strength with winds of 160 mph. As it made landfall in cuba, creeping along the islands northern shore, for most two days. As irma was hitting cuba, i was in the United States, which was waiting for its second major hurricane in as many weeks, and this time, the target was florida. Hurricane irma is battering cuba, around 300 miles to the south of us, and even here, you can feel the power of the storm, thats how big it is. Irmas florida landfall was in the keys, causing major damage as a category four storm, with winds of over 130 mph. As irma moved north, this was the scene in naples. Its got really intense now. And then, irma met my location in tampa. It had weakened slightly, but it was still a category two storm, and i wanted to see to experience the condition is outside. You can talk about wind speed, you can talk about pressure, but its a completely different thing to experience a hurricane first hand. It must be devastating for people, caught in the storm. More than 120 people are known to have died as a result of irma, including at least 80 in the United States. But as the clean up began, it was not long before the caribbean was in the firing line again, but how do you knowjust how strong these hurricanes like irma are, before they hit land. Here is nick again. Commercial aircraft steer around hurricanes, but not the hurricane hunters, including these of the us air force reserve. Their mission is to fly when no one else dares, this time right into the heart of Hurricane Irma. The more times we passed through the eye wall, the better they can calibrate exacting where the storm is moving. Its not pretty, but everybody get changed to do had to kick in all at once, because the plane is falling and you are just holding on looking for good air. We are back now at the bbc Weather Centre, and im joined by professor mark saunders. Mark is a climate prediction scientist. He is involved in predicting hurricanes and Tropical Cyclones right around the world. So, thank you forjoining us. Just expect to me, how do we even begin to predict a Hurricane Season . We use computer models. Between august and september, two of the key environmental fields are how warm or cold the Tropical Atlantic sea temperatures are in august and september, and how strong the winds are blowing across the atlantic from west africa to the caribbean, and if we can pick those perfectly, then you can generally get a very good understanding of how active or quiet the Hurricane Season will be. 2017 has been a particular Hurricane Season. Today forecasters get it right and if not what went wrong . They got it right to a large degree, and most forecasts predicted to be above normal Hurricane Season, but not the actual hyperactive levels, they were not anticipated. We think one of the factors that contributed that mis forecast was the current sudden cooling of the waters in the tropical called el nino. Waters called by a big degree by august, thats quite unusual and contributed to a more stable atmosphere conditions over the Tropical Atlantic, which enables storms to build up and become strong, and also happen more often. Thank you forjoining us. And coming up, from the hurricane front line, i will be giving my experiences of reporting joined the storm. And, whats caribbean caves can tell us about hurricanes of the past and future. So far in this weather World Special we have been concentrating on Hurricane Irma. But it was not the only Tropical Cyclone with the deadly impact. It too would reach category five strength and head for the caribbean. Nick has the story of hurricane maria. Here we go again, september, and let in at the hurricane rapidly intensifies. This is guadeloup hit by wind and rain. A months worth injust a day. But by the time marias eye had passed, of orderly, dominique taken a hit. This unverified video was made as the lights went off. After the hurricane, the full horror of what happened here was revealed. These were the strongest winds on record to have hit his islands, and at least 30 people were killed. When maria made landfall in puerto rico, it was a category four hurricane, and the strongest here since 1920s. As ever, it is notjust the winds that does the damage, it is the water too, and both from flooding rain and storm surge causing catastrophic flooding. All of the elements combines to leave the entire island without power, amid fears of a high humaintarian crisis. Then came close to the dominican republic, before turning north away from the usa. In october, another storm followed maria. Severe flooding damaged thousands of homes. Nate was blamed for the deaths of at least 25 people, including nicaragua, but in costa rica and honduras too. Next in the site, was the usa. Strengthening, it became the fastest moving hurricane ever recorded north of mexico. It hit mississippi as a category one storm, but at least, impact in the usa were not as serious as has been feared. We know a lot about hurricanes in the era of modern weather technology. But what about the hurricanes that came before that, well doctors james and lisa from Durham University running a project in the caribbean to answer that question. Thanks forjoining me. It involves being to caves. Yes, it does. Caves are the most obvious place to look, but in fact they are full of really interesting deposits called stalagmite and stalagtites. What we aim to do in this project is to reconstruct long term records of hurricane impact, and. Youve got a stalagmite here, what does that tell you. They grow up from the ground of the cave, and they are deposited as the ordered drips onto the ground. That strip water has a chemical signature that reflects the rainfall at the time it was going, hurricanes have a really unique chemical signature, because the water actually evaporates from the ocean was mac servers, and it is drawn up early high up in sky, and that is where temperatures are lower, and it impacts the chemical signature of that rainfall, so we can look at the chemistry, going through a time, and we can pick out years when there were more hurricanes, and years when there were fewer hurricanes. So give the michigan line, depends on how alljust outlets are . Yes thats right. The record we had to about is back to 1550a. D. At about 450 years long. But stalagmite can grow for a very long amount of time. We can date them 600,000 years ago. It is likely we will be able to extend that record. That will give us the information that we will need to assess what is happening now. I am fascinated to learn what you have learned so far, and the indications for the future, but will look at that, for now, thank you. From science success to an infamous epic fail. Earlier on today, a woman on the bbc had that there was a hurricane on the way. If you are watching, dont worry, there isnt. Michael fishs ill fated reassurance. Kennedy not a hurricane, but a area of low pressure that felled 15 million trees. The storms wind gust of 115 mph was recorded in west sussex. Sustained winds that strong would rank as a category three major hurricane, butjust how are hurricane wind speed ranked . Here is sarah. We often talk about the strength of hurricanes in terms of their categories. Atlantic hurricanes measured on the Saffir Simpson scale. The skill provides examples of the type of damage and the impacts associated with given wind speeds. Category one, winds are between 7a and 95 mph, and can cause some damage to roofs and gutters and topple small trees. Category two, winds between 96 to 110 mph. They can cause more extensive of damage and power failures. Category three, storm becomes a major hurricane, with winds between 111 and 129 mph, and can lead to devastating damage to buildings. Category four 132 156 mph, enough to caused catastrophic damage to roofs and exterior walls and power cuts that can last for months. Category five hurricanes, winds in excess of 157 mph. This can cause catastrophic damage and ties homes and buildings. Affected areas will become uninhabitable. Destructive winds and torrential rain, this looks like a hurricane, in fact, its a typhoon. Slamming into chinas coast in august. The reason for the similarities that hurricanes and typhoons are the same in everything but name. Earlier on in the programme we work to do a Fascinating Research project a place in the caribbean. This was true caves through the use of stalagmite. We have not yet revealed what you have found out through the study of what is happening with the stalagmites. What have you discovered . What we have seen is a peak in Tropical Cyclone activity to, affecting our site and around 1650a. D. This is in belize. We see this peak in activity affecting our site around 1650 a d. Now, 1650 was remarkable, because it was the peak of what is known of the little ice age that affected the Northern Hemisphere. After that, the Northern Hemisphere temperatures were warming, but we see a decrease in Tropical Cyclone over time. It is important to emphasise that there is a lot of randomness with how hurricanes go. Any given year, hurricane can either steer out into the atlantic, or hit central america. There is a lot of randomness about where they go. The average track through time, through our research, is north. Unfortunately, what this means is that hurricanes can still strike in the atlantic basin, but on average, the north east coast in north america can expect in increase in the number of hurricane landfalls. Thinking along the lines of hurricane sandy. Its could become increasingly normal over the next few decades. Is there something in this that may make the butt in europe sit up and take notice . We see that the track is moving northward through time, this also means that there could be an increase in the frequency of storms in the north atlantic, and also potentially impacting europe. Is this an ominous sign for europe, and other major hurricane, but this one further east in the atlantic than ever seen before . Hurricane 0phelia first started wildfires in spain, killing more than a0 people. Then, as it sped north, it remains a powerful storm. Ireland bore the brunt, with three people being killed. Elsewhere in the uk, dust from the sahara carried along by 0phelia, gave the sun and unusual red glow. Hurricanes rightly leads to mass public evacuations, and one of the biggest in American History trip is ahead of irma. Butjust as most is the boar are leaving, but whether reporters go to the storm, getting as close as this if you can, to tell the for the story. Aside in florida, but it requires is National Team and technological effort. This is where i was doing this height of the storm in downtown tampa. See that road there, this is where the winds were roaring down at hurricane force. I was standing in the middle of that road. Hurricane irma holds the record for managing to sustain category five longer than any other hurricane in recorded history. To the viewer, it might seem like i was the only one there, but of course, i had my cameraman, john, my producer, three of us out in the middle of the street. I lost everything in my home. What can be destroyed in a matter of hours can take weeks, months and maybe years to repair. Here in puerto rico, just as many have caribbean islands, the damage was extensive. In the British Virgin islands. They were delivering desperately needed aid. Here in the turks and caicos islands, the story is the same. Hurricane come and go, but the effect that they have on millions of lives goes on long after the storm has passed. And that is it for this special edition of weather world, with nick and sarah in the bbc Weather Centre in london, and from me here, until then, keep checking the weather. If you mist any of that, it is on line. Nothing is dramatic this weekend, but we do have a storm working its way through, brian has given a cloudy picture. We have seen is in strong winds. These are exposed sites, but for more general areas. Exposed sites, but for more general areas. Here is the storm on the satellite picture, a lovely looking swell of cloud, on the southern flank of the storm is where we are seeing the strong west or southwesterly winds. As we go through the next few hours, wind gusts will continue to reach 40 50 miles per row, inland areas at times, around the coast the risk is 6070. Times, around the coast the risk is 60 70. Rough seas and the potential for coastal flooding, on top of that, a lot of heavy rain in wales and the south west. Pretty miserable if you have travel plans of the afternoon. A mixture of sunshine and heavy downpours, east anglia getting a way of it, heavy bursts in north west england. Some downpours in northern ireland, lighter winds here, a similar story in the south west scotland. In eastern northern scotland you have a risk of staying dry. Slowly but surely overnight it will ease in the south, but will pick up for a time in more northern areas, and these heavy downpours are still feeding in from the west and cause a little bit of local Service Water surface water flooding. That is in the built up areas. Tomorrow, brian is still witnessed that gradually lifting off to the north east. It will be a cloudy start, outbreaks of rain. A blustery starters well, but through the day the winds will ease, the cloud will tend to break up and the sun will come out. By the afternoon its not looking too bad. A speckling of showers in the west. Temperatures below average for the time of year. Monday will be breezy, not as windy as now. A band of rain will work in from the west, not too farfrom will work in from the west, not too far from the south. A few sunny brea ks far from the south. A few sunny breaks elsewhere. As we go on through the week ahead, it is looking mixed. There will be spells of rain, it will be breezy, but in the south, towards the end of the week, it looks like warm up. Some spots could get into the 20s. This is bbc news. The headlines spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has confirmed that the National Government will take control of the previously autonomous region of catalonia. Translation to all the spanish people, in particular the catalan people, i want to send you a message of calm. Explosives experts were called to the Sellafield Nuclear plant in cumbria after an audit of chemicals stored in a laboratory. Drivers could soon be allowed to pass through sections of motorway roadworks at higher speeds. Storm brian hits with Gale Force Winds and high seas but less fierce than predicted
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