The Great Storm of 1987
On the night of 15–16 October 1987, hurricane-force winds tore across southern England, killing around 22 people and felling an estimated 15 million trees — the most destructive storm to hit Britain in nearly 300 years. It is also remembered for the most infamous weather forecast in British broadcasting history.
It began as an unremarkable area of low pressure tracking up from the Bay of Biscay. Within hours it had exploded into one of the deepest depressions ever to cross southern Britain, its central pressure plunging to about 953 hPa. The steepening pressure gradient did what steep gradients always do — it whipped the wind into a frenzy. Between roughly midnight and dawn on 16 October, gusts topped 100 mph from Cornwall to East Anglia.
What saved lives was the clock. The worst of it arrived while the South East slept; had the same winds hit at rush hour, the toll would have been catastrophic. That grim near-miss is exactly what played out three years later in the Burns' Day Storm of January 1990, which struck in daylight and killed more than twice as many people despite weaker gusts.
The Night It Happened
A deepening low sits south-west of Britain. Forecasters expect a windy night but underestimate how violently the depression will intensify as it swings north-east.
The storm makes landfall in Cornwall and Devon and races across the country far faster and deeper than modelled. Winds begin to climb sharply across the South West.
The core sweeps across the South East. Shoreham-by-Sea logs a 115 mph gust at about 3:10am; Gorleston in Norfolk records the UK peak of 122 mph. Power lines and millions of trees come down in the dark.
The depression reaches the Humber estuary and pushes into the North Sea. Britain wakes to blocked roads, no power for hundreds of thousands, and a transformed landscape.
Peak Gusts, by Location
Hurricane force starts at 73 mph. The Great Storm blew straight past it across a huge area of the South. These are the standout readings, all from the Met Office.
The highest gust recorded anywhere in the UK during the storm.
Recorded at about 3:10am as the core crossed the south coast.
The storm’s single highest reading — across the Channel in Normandy.
“Don't Worry, There Isn't”: The Michael Fish Forecast
Hours before the storm hit, BBC weatherman Michael Fish delivered the line that would follow him for the rest of his career:
“Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't.”
Fish has always argued he was misquoted — and, technically, he has a point. He was referring to a different system out over the Atlantic near Florida, not the depression about to flatten Kent. But the juxtaposition of that reassurance with the devastation a few hours later made the clip immortal. It also, fairly or not, became shorthand for a genuine forecasting failure: the storm's ferocity really had been underestimated.
The Toll on People and Landscape
Around 22 people died, most crushed by falling trees, collapsing walls or debris. Hundreds of thousands of homes lost power, some for more than a fortnight. But the storm's most visible legacy was arboreal: an estimated 15 million trees were brought down in a single night.
The losses read like a roll-call of English horticulture. Six of the seven great oaks that gave Sevenoaks its name were toppled. The botanic collections at Kew Gardens and Wakehurst Place lost hundreds of mature and rare specimens; Nymans Garden and the grounds of Scotney Castle were ravaged; the beech ring of Chanctonbury on the South Downs was all but destroyed. Some of those landscapes are still recovering today.
The bill was enormous. The Great Storm cost the insurance industry around £2 billion — for years the second most expensive weather event on record for UK insurers, behind only the 1990 Burns' Day Storm.
How It Ranks Against Other UK Storms
“Worst storm ever” depends on how you measure it. By wind and destruction, 1987 stands alone in living memory. By death toll, two other events were far deadlier — and the modern gust record actually belongs to a storm most people barely remember.
| Storm | Date | Peak gust | UK deaths | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Storm | 15–16 Oct 1987 | 122 mph (Gorleston) | ~22 (UK + France) | Struck overnight — the timing is widely credited with keeping the death toll far lower than it could have been. |
| Burns’ Day Storm | 25 Jan 1990 | 104 mph | 47 (UK) | Hit in broad daylight while people were out and about — more than double the 1987 death toll despite weaker gusts. |
| Storm Eunice | 18 Feb 2022 | 122 mph (The Needles) | ~4 (UK) | Set the highest gust ever officially recorded in England; a modern warning system gave days of notice. |
| North Sea flood | 31 Jan–1 Feb 1953 | Storm surge | 300+ (UK) | Not a wind event but a coastal surge — still the deadliest UK weather disaster of the 20th century. |
Storm Eunice's 122 mph gust at The Needles on the Isle of Wight in February 2022 is the highest ever officially recorded in England — matching the Great Storm's own Gorleston peak, but with days of warning and a fraction of the casualties. That gap is the whole story of what changed after 1987.
Lessons and Legacy
The 1987 storm humiliated British forecasting, and that humiliation was productive. In the aftermath the Met Office overhauled how it watched the Atlantic: more ocean buoys and automatic weather stations, better use of aircraft and satellite data, and heavy investment in the supercomputers that run the models. The way severe-weather warnings are issued and communicated to the public was rebuilt too.
The proof is in the contrast. When Storm Eunice produced comparable gusts in 2022, the public had days of notice, a red “danger to life” warning, and far fewer deaths. A storm that blindsided the country in 1987 is now the kind of event Britain sees coming. For the full picture of British extremes — the hottest, coldest, wettest and windiest days on record — see our UK weather records hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people died in the Great Storm of 1987?
At least 22 — around 18 in England and 4 in France. Because the worst winds came overnight, the toll was far lower than it would have been in daytime.
What was the highest wind gust?
122 mph at Gorleston, Norfolk (the UK peak) and 115 mph at Shoreham-by-Sea. The storm's single highest reading, 135 mph, was across the Channel at Pointe du Roc in France.
Was the 1987 storm a hurricane?
No — it was an extratropical depression, though its winds reached hurricane force. Michael Fish's infamous “don't worry, there isn't” line referred to a different Atlantic system entirely.
What was the worst storm in UK history?
For wind damage, 1987 is the benchmark. For loss of life, the 1953 North Sea flood (300+ UK deaths) and the 1990 Burns' Day Storm (47) were deadlier. See our UK records hub for the full list.
Keep Exploring
See every category of British extreme in the full UK weather records hub, read about the UK's hottest days ever recorded and the summer 2026 heatwave that followed a stormy decade, explore the UK's climate and seasons, or look up the weather on any past date with our historical lookup tool.
Sources
Storm details, gusts and casualty figures are from the Met Office “The Great Storm of 1987” and “Lessons and legacy” pages, cross-checked against Wikipedia's “Great storm of 1987,” the BBC archive, and reporting on the 1990 Burns' Day Storm and 2022 Storm Eunice.