Flights from New York to London have been hurtling through the air in just five hours and 30 minutes thanks to Storm Eowyn’s powerful jet stream.
Britain is currently preparing for the ‘storm of the decade’ to hit tomorrow but it seems the extreme winds have already had an effect on air travel across the Atlantic.
According to data from Flight Radar, a British Airways flight BA274 from Las Vegas to Heathrow reached a ground speed of 814mph – approximately 260mph faster than its typical top speed.
The aircraft had capitalised on the monster tailwind to reach speeds of just 20mph under the subsonic speed record to reduce its flight time by over an hour.
A jet stream is a wind at about 30 to 40,000 feet that travels from west to east, meandering across the Atlantic with speeds of about 190 to 200mph.
Airline companies will use this to pick up speed and save on fuel as they travel across the Atlantic, which is why it takes longer to fly to New York from London then vice versa.
BBC weather forecaster Simon King said the jet stream this week had been ‘supercharged’ with winds speeds in excess of 260mph off the coast of America.
Because of this, a number of flights coming into the capital from New York, which normally take around seven hours to complete, were landing ahead of schedule because of the heavy gusts.
According to data from Flight Radar, a British Airways flight BA274 from Las Vegas to Heathrow reached a ground speed of 814mph – approximately 260mph faster than its typical top speed (file image)
The jet stream had been ‘supercharged’ with winds speeds in excess of 260mph off the coast of America
And these high-speed winds are currently on their way to the UK as part of the ‘dangerous’ Storm Eowyn, leading forecasters to warn Brits that parts of the country could be brought to a standstill on Friday.
The Met Office has issued dire warnings for ‘exceptional’ hurricane-force winds, with the worst of Storm Eowyn expected to strike from the early hours of Friday across Scotland and Northern Ireland, where winds could reach up to 100mph.
Forecasters say flying debris could result in danger to life and ‘very dangerous’ driving conditions because of fallen trees.
It comes as a suspected mini tornado left behind a trail of destruction in Cornwall on Thursday, blowing down trees, smashing cars and tearing down roofs.
Meanwhile, in the Republic of Ireland, this could be the storm of the century, BBC Weather said. Irish forecasters have already issued blanket red weather warnings covering all of the country for gales in excess of 80mph.
But forecasters are predicting that gusts could even reach up to 140mph on the west coast of Ireland and up to 110mph in the Western Isles of Scotland tomorrow.
The season’s fifth named storm could be so bad that BBC weather presenter Judith Ralston said: ‘This is one major storm. I’ve not seen anything like it in my career.’
Another weather expert warned that Storm Eowyn could bring the lowest pressure to Scotland since 1982, making it one of the ‘most intense’ storms to hit the country in recent history.
A tornado spawned from Storm Eowyn has hit caravan holiday park in Cornwall
A man on Hampstead Heath in North London struggles with his umbrella in the wind and rain of Storm Eowyn
Scores of Static holiday homes are pitched off foundations and smashed from the tornado
Aftermath as Storm Eowyn hits Quintrell Downs in Cornwall on January 23
A tornado spawned from Storm Eouwyn, tracks through Cornish village
Scottish First Minister John Swinney told the country’s Parliament on Thursday that people in areas covered by the red weather warning should not travel, while Stormont’s Education Minister Paul Givan said the Education Authority had advised all schools in Northern Ireland to close on Friday.
The warning is in place in Northern Ireland from 7am to 2pm on Friday, and in parts of Scotland between 10am and 5pm.
Mr Givan said: ‘I understand this will impact on the work of schools and indeed on other businesses and services, but the decision has been taken to avoid any potential risk to life for children and young people as well as staff.
‘Schools should put plans in place today for remote learning so that pupils can study at home.’
A total of 19 local authorities in Scotland have now announced all schools in their areas will be closed because of Storm Eowyn on Friday.
Stirling, Falkirk and Angus councils all announced via social media that all of their schools would be shut with the red weather warning due to come into effect at 10am on Friday.
They join Glasgow, Edinburgh, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Fife, North and South Lanarkshire, North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian, East and West Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk councils, which have said all schools and nurseries will be closed.
Amber weather warnings for wind have been issued for northern England from 6am until 9pm, and a yellow weather warning covers most of southern England for the whole of Friday.
Met Office chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen said on Thursday: ‘We reserve the issuing of red warnings for the most severe weather which represents a likely danger to life and severe disruption, and that is the case with Storm Eowyn.
‘While it will be widely very windy on Friday, with additional hazards from rain and snow, the strongest winds and most significant impacts are likely in Northern Ireland and central and south-western parts of Scotland within the red warning areas, where winds could gust 80-90mph quite widely for a time, and potentially up to 100mph for exposed coasts in particular.’
