Batten Down The Hatches.

[Rodo]

It's a nice sunny morning here on and off, interspersed with showers of rain. We have had only light winds and so have got off very lightly. I was quite concerned at one stage for my relatives in Kent and Essex, and haven't heard from them at all as yet.

[TheOstrich]

Complete damp squib here in Birmingham. There was a bit of rain overnight and the trees have lost a few more leaves.

You know, from mid-afternoon onwards, it was obvious from the updating of the BBC Weather website (which I checked every couple of hours or so) that the storm was going to track much further south than they were originally suggesting, and was going to be less intense than they had been hyping. But we know how the BBC loves to shock-horror hype a good news story ... they even gave it a fancy name .....

Mrs O reported earlier this morning that they were desperately trying to justify themselves by sending someone outside the studio to the car-park to report that "yes, the BBC flag is definitely flapping ..." (Radio News report)

It more or less followed the track of the old 1987 storm, from what I've seen this morning. Commiserations to those affected in the south-west and along the south coast.

[Weka]

Goodness! Hope everyone is ok?!

[Suff]

We came over on the Caen Portsmouth ferry on Sunday night and I picked up my bike from Southampton Airport and rode it back to Guildford.

As far as I can see it was a very localised impact over a few hours. The ferry hardly moved on the journey over and by 9am when I finally got going on the bike, I'd ridden in worse wind before.

Bad for some and for a short while, but not really a massive storm.