Global warming or storm in a teacup?

Wind speeds of 75mph were recorded in the centre of Southampton and thousands of homes across Hampshire and Dorset were left powerless after falling trees brought down electricity lines.

Across the UK the severe gales claimed the lives of six people - although luckily none in this region - and scores of accidents were reported.

But while environmentalists claim it's another sign of the effect on world-wide weather patterns of global warming, others say it is just part and parcel of British autumn weather.

Many companies, such as electricity providers, who have come under fire for not having adequate procedures in place for dealing with the crisis, claim it was a severe and unprecedented storm. However, the truth is that this type of storm hits the UK on average every two years.

In fact, only last year wind speeds of 100mph were recorded on the Isle of Wight, surpassing those seen across the country this time, where the highest speed measured was 99mph in Mumbles in Wales.

The biggest storm to hit the UK in the last century was the now infamous hurricane that caused almost a billion pounds worth of damage in October 1987.

This time around, although the storm was far less severe, the cost to the UK economy will also run to millions, with the Association of British Insurers putting an early estimate of £50m on the sum.

The majority of storms and depressions to hit the UK are formed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

In this case, warm moist air from the Caribbean collided with cold dry air from Canada and as the two air masses hit, the warmer air was forced upwards and started to rotate anti-clockwise because of the Earth's natural rotation.

As the cycle develops, more warm air is drawn in from the south and cold air from the north and the system expands, fuelling itself as wind speeds increase.

Fortunately Sunday's storm did not bring with it huge amounts of rain, which can quickly worsen the situation as soft ground makes trees far easier to uproot.

In tropical regions such as the Caribbean, which experience several hurricanes each year, the majority of storm deaths come from land or mudslides brought on by torrential downpours or by storm surges where sea water is lifted higher than normal by the swirling winds.

Fortunately though, UK weather forecasters, with the help of satellite data, can spot these systems developing and track their movements long before we feel the winds picking up.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "We were well aware of this storm before it hit the UK, and had started issuing warnings on Thursday that strong winds were going to arrive over the weekend and that damage to homes and property was likely.

"Really, it is not unexpected for a depression of this magnitude to hit the UK at this time of the year and the most important thing we do is to let people know as quickly as possible that something is coming, so that people can prepare for it."

One of the worst-hit public services was the train network, ironic as network chiefs had said before the storm hit that they were unlikely to be affected by the adverse weather.

Initially the high wind speeds forced rail services to a halt simply because of worries over how stable the trains would be while buffeted by high winds.

But hazard a guess at what their main problem was? Yes, you guessed it. The same thing that caused a furore last autumn. . . leaves on the lines.

Train operators say that several weeks' worth of leaves fell in just a few hours, making lines slippery and forcing the network to slow down.

A spokesman for South West Trains, said: "On Sunday we had to suspend services between 11am and 4pm due to the severity of the conditions as a safety precaution.

"On Monday we had debris such as branches and leaves on the lines and obviously they make the tracks more slippery which means we have to run the trains slower. That caused network-wide delays of around 40 minutes."

However, they weren't the only company to suffer.

The south's electricity companies have also come under fire after hundreds of thousands of homes were left without power - some for several days.

A spokesman for Southern Electric, said: "Altogether,

115,000 homes were left without power.

"We had most of the homes, around 85 per cent, reconnected by Sunday evening with all but the most rural customers connected by Monday evening.

"During the storm itself we had more than 100,000 calls reporting difficulties, and in total we estimate there were around 2,000 lines brought down by the weather."

Asked whether the company felt it had done enough in preparation, the spokesman added: "Yes, I think we did as much as we could.

"We brought in some 80 extra engineers on Saturday in response to predictions of the weather and during Sunday we had around 300 teams out effecting repairs."

Southampton Airport was also affected, suspending operations for several hours while the worst of the winds tore across the runway, and even the massive container ships operating out of Southampton faced delays as the steep-sided vessels struggled against the ferocious gales.

A spokesman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Services said that over the course of the weekend they had had almost 250 call-outs, roughly twice the usual number.

He added: "At one stage 20 incidents were ongoing simultaneously with the coastal area from Portsmouth to Southampton the most affected with high winds resulting in damage to buildings.

"The damage caused included trees falling on to houses and roads, a number of chimneys becoming unsafe, power and telephone cables coming down and damage caused by loose material being blown at houses at high speeds. There were a number of times when our resources were under great pressure but we managed to deal with all the incidents we were called to."

As if to prove a point about autumn weather, The Met Office are predicting further gales this weekend, though nowhere near as strong as last Sunday's storm.