By Colin Fernandez, Environment Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 18:30 EDT, 17 February 2022 | Updated: 14:52 EDT, 18 February 2022

Storm Eunice will not develop into a 'sting jet' - the Met Office said today - after the rare meteorological phenomenon failed to materialise. 

Scientists had warned the storm had the potential to include the dangerous feature, which was last seen in the UK during the Great Storm of 1987.

Twenty-two people died during the Great Storm, 18 in England and four in France and 15 million trees in the UK were toppled.

The cost to the economy has been estimated at £1.4billion - and Met Office forecasters warn that global warming is making such severe storms more likely as a warmer climate makes storms more violent.

Sting jets were unknown at the time of the Great Storm - and were only discovered by analysis of satellite images and weather data by University of Reading scientists led by in 2003.

Looking at satellite images of clouds and surface weather observations, researchers identified the conditions that lead to the strongest surface winds. 

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A stream of strong winds descends to the ground where there is evaporation at the tip of a tell-tale cloud feature. This cloud, hooked like a scorpion's tail, gives the wind region its name - the Sting Jet.

Once a sting jet is identified in satellite images, sometimes only two or three hours before their impact, they can help help to predict the most damaging path of the storm.

Relative to the size of the storm they are very narrow - usually only around 30 miles across - and tend to last just three or four hours. Most storms never develop sting jets.

The so-called Great Storm in October 1987, which claimed 18 lives, is the most famous example of a sting jet forming, the Met Office said.

In that instance wind speeds reached 115mph and an estimated 15 million trees were brought down by gusts, the Met Office said. 

Explaining how the sting jets form, the forecaster said weather fronts separate areas of warm and cold air and their interaction creates and develops wet and windy weather.

There are more focused streams of warm and cold air close to the weather fronts, known as conveyor belts - with the warm conveyor rising and the cold conveyor falling.

The sting jet features separate areas of warm and cold air, with the interaction creating and developing wet and windy weather. There are more focused streams of warm and cold air close to the weather fronts, known as conveyor belts - with the warm conveyor rising and the cold conveyor falling. The Met Office said these 'wrap around the area of low pressure and help develop it by feeding warm air and moisture into the system'

In this satellite image example of a sting jet the cold front and warm front merge to create an area of extreme weather within the merging zone (centre)

The Met Office said these 'wrap around the area of low pressure and help develop it by feeding warm air and moisture into the system'.

It added: 'The cold conveyor brings its cold air from higher in the atmosphere and from being in a cold air mass. Sometimes it has help from rain and snow as they fall into it and evaporate.

'This change from liquid to gas requires heat, which is removed from the conveyor, cooling it further. Now we have even colder air falling along the conveyor, speeding up as it does so, like a rollercoaster taking the first drop.

'As this wind reaches the surface it can often produce much stronger gusts than would otherwise be made by the storm. However, the cold conveyor catches up with itself after a few hours and consumes the sting jet, keeping the length of time and area of potential damage quite small.'

During the Great Storm of 1987, the worst of the damage occurred in south-east England, with gusts of 70 knots or more recorded continually for three or four hours straight, the Met Office said. 

Thousands of homes were left without power for more than 24 hours, and transport disruption was caused due to trees falling onto roads and railway lines.

The Met Office also recalled how a number of small boats were wrecked or blown away, with one ship at Dover being blown over and a Channel ferry being blown ashore near Folkestone.

The forecaster said that even the oldest at the time in the worst affected areas 'couldn't recall winds so strong, or destruction on so great a scale'.

Dr Peter Inness, meteorologist at the University of Reading, said a 'strong jet stream' can 'act like a production line for storms, generating a new storm every day or two'.

He added: 'Eunice looks like it may be able to produce a 'sting jet', a narrow, focused region of extremely strong winds embedded within the larger area of strong winds and lasting just a few hours.

'Such events are quite rare but the 1987 'Great Storm' almost certainly produced a sting jet, and some of the more damaging wind storms since have also shown this pattern.'

He said two red warnings for wind in a single winter is very unusual for the UK, as it is more typical to get one every two or three years.

Running parallel to the fronts are more focused streams of warm and cold air, known as conveyor belts. 

While the warm one rises, the cold one falls, helping to feed warm air and moisture into the system. 

Cold conveyor belts bring snow and rain, which evaporate and speeds up the stream of cold air falling into the storm even more - resulting in even higher winds. 

This is what is known as a sting jet, with the sting referring to the 'sting in the tail' of the storm. 

Sting jets are hard, but not impossible, to forecast - according to the Met Office. 

'There are tell-tale signs in weather models that are now able to spot cores of very strong winds,' its website explains. 

'It is also possible to spot the sting jet developing on satellite images, as the end of the cold conveyor is marked by a hook-shaped cloud with a point at the end. 

'This often looks like the sting in a scorpion's tail, hence the name sting jet.'

SAGE have done some weather modelling and are pred...

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