Out Of Season "Winter" Storm Blasts UK, Disrupts Peak Tourist/Festival Season In Scotland

Satellite view of powerful Storm Floris blasting the
northern British Isles earlier this week. 

A type of storm that usually hits the British Isles in the winter just blasted parts of that region in full summer. 

The system, Storm Floris, swept across mostly Scotland and Northern Island and northern parts of England earlier this week.

Some 70,000 homes and businesses in northern Scotland were without power, which brought gusts to over 100 mph in some areas. a gust to 134 mph was reported at the summit of Cairngorm in the Scottish Highlands.

In lower elevations, Wick airport in Scotland had a gust to 82 mph, with several other stations going over 70 mph according to the Met Office, which is the British equivalent to the U.S. National Weather Service. 

SSEN, the electric utility in northern Scotland, said Floris was "the most damaging summer storm in recent memory, " reported the BBC.

Storm Floris was the equivalent of a strong nor'easter hitting New England this time of year, something that just doesn't' happen. 

Train services and some ferry crossing were canceled in much of Scotland, which happens from time to time in winter storms but rarely in the summer,

The storm really affected Edinburgh, not because it caused a huge amount of damage, but it disrupted the peak of its summer tourism season. 

Some venues and performances at the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival had to be canceled because of the unseasonably stormy weather.  Edinburgh Military Tattoo, massed ranks of bagpipers and drummers at Edinburgh Castle that's one of the city's biggest tourist draws, canceled its outdoor performance on Monday. 

An Oasis concert in Edinburgh did went ahead as schedule.   . 

DEXTER 

Meanwhile, a former tropical storm from waters near the United States is forecast to briefly become an oddly intense non-tropical, more winter type storm in the central North Atlantic. 

Tropical Storm Dexter formed off the North Carolina coast and moved northeastward, out to sea. It will become a powerful storm with top winds of 70 mph roughly halfway between Newfoundland and Ireland. Luckily for the British Isles and elsewhere in Europe, former Dexter should weaken quite a bit on approach to the continent.