Siglufjörður records strongest gusts in 17 years

Wind gusts in Siglufjörður reached 40 metres per second during Wednesday’s storm, the strongest recorded there since October 2009, mbl.is reports, citing the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The weather station in the town recorded a maximum wind speed of 20.9 metres per second. Higher wind speeds and gusts have been recorded there in October, but gusts have not been this strong for 17 years.

The highest wind speed recorded in Iceland during the storm was 42 metres per second at Stórhöfði. The strongest gust, 56.9 metres per second, was measured at a Road Administration station near Hvammur, below Eyjafjöll.

Wind speeds exceeded 20 metres per second at nearly 40 per cent of the country’s weather stations. The unusually deep low-pressure system brought a rapid drop in air pressure, which reached a low of 934.6 hectopascals at Fagurhólsmýri at 5pm. That was the lowest October reading on record, beating the previous record of 938.4 hectopascals at Stórhöfði on 19 October 1963.

The storm also brought heavy precipitation, especially in the Eastfjords and southeast Iceland. Nearly 70 millimetres of rain fell in Neskaupstaður and Fáskrúðsfjörður between 8am and noon.