Storm Eunice's 'highest ever' gust of wind in England is still 51mph short of UK record

Storm Eunice has brought the 'highest ever' gust of wind recorded in England, the Met Office has confirmed.

Wind speeds of 122mph were clocked at iconic landmark The Needles on the Isle of Wight.

Forecasters at the Met Office confirmed it was 'provisionally' the highest gust ever registered in the country.

But even 122mph falls short of the UK record - by a mind-boggling 51mph.

Data shows the strongest gust of wind ever recorded in the UK - 173mph - hit the Cairngorm summit in the Highlands of Scotland on March 20, 1986.

Both locations, however, are at height and exposed.

The strongest gust recorded at any low-level location in the UK, at Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire, on February 13, 1989, was 142mph.

The new provisional English record would overtake winds of 118mph clocked in Cornwall more than 40 years ago.

"The Needles on the Isle of Wight recorded a wind gust of 122 mph this morning," said the Met Office announcing the new record on Twitter.

"This is provisionally the highest gust ever recorded in England."

Here's how the gust compares with other wind speeds recorded by the Met Office in the UK:

– 98mph: The strongest gust recorded during Storm Arwen on the night of November 26-27 2021, at Brizlee Wood, Northumberland.

Before Storm Eunice, Arwen was the most recent example of a red weather warning being issued in the UK.

– 105mph: The strongest gust during Storm Gertrude on January 29 2016, at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. This storm saw a red weather warning issued for the whole of the Shetlands.

– 115mph: The peak wind speed reached during the “Great Storm” of the night of October 15-16 1987, at Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. Gusts also reached 99mph at Gatwick Airport and 94mph in central London.

– 118mph: The