Winter Storm Kyrill

Meteorological development

Winter Storm Kyrill was the climax of an above-average 2006/2007 windstorm season in Europe that included Britta, Karla, Lotte, and Franz. The low-pressure system which gave rise to Kyrill formed in the central Atlantic on 17 January 2007. With maximum gusts of 135 km/h, Kyrill swept across England and the North Sea before heading for southern Denmark.

On the afternoon and evening of 18 January, peak gusts exceeding 100 km/h were observed over wide areas of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Many regions were hit by gale-force gusts of more than 120 km/h, the strongest of which was registered on the Wendelstein mountain in Germany (202 km/h).

Thunderstorms, some of them violent, formed in the cold front area and were accompanied by hailstorms. In eastern Germany damage was also caused by tornadoes. On the night of 19 January, the storm shifted further east, maximum wind speeds of 140 km/h being recorded in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria. Figure 9 shows Kyrill’s wind field – winds exceeded 100 km/h over much of United Kingdom, the Benelux States, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Damage
Germany	— Ten fatalities — > 1.5 million individual losses — Hundreds of thousands of households suffered power cuts — Rail transport at a standstill throughout the country — Slight to moderate storm surge on the North Sea coast
Switzerland	— Local wind speeds up to hurricane force (> 120 km/h) — Minor damage
United Kingdom	— 12 fatalities — Estimated > 0.5 million individual losses in central and southern England — Tens of thousands of households left without power — Beaching of container ship MS Napoli
France	— Two fatalities — Only northern France affected
Czech Republic	— Three fatalities — Damage throughout the country
Netherlands	— Five fatalities — Damage throughout the country
Belgium	— Two fatalities — Damage throughout the country
Austria	— > 150,000 individual losses — 20,000 households hit by power cuts
Poland	— Four fatalities — Damage throughout the country

Historical comparison of Kyrill’s wind field with major European windstorm events

On the basis of an analysis of wind speeds and affected regions, the closest comparison with Kyrill is Winter Storm Daria (1990). Lothar (1999) had a completely different geographical focus (France, especially Paris, Switzerland, southwestern Germany) and is therefore not really a suitable benchmark.

Taking Germany alone, Kyrill could also be compared with Jeanett (2002). However, both the overall geographical scope and the duration of Kyrill were considerably greater.

Daria (1990) cost the insurance industry some €4.4bn at the time, most of which was incurred in United Kingdom (approximately €10bn at 2006 values).

Lothar (1999) set a new European record for insured winter storm losses, costing €5.9bn (€7.3bn at 2006 values).

Jeanett (2002) caused a market loss of €1.7bn in Europe (approximately €2bn at 2006 values).