page_title: 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
section_title: Storm Eva
hierarchical_section_title: 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season / Storms / Storm Eva
caption_attribution_description: English: Storm Eva on 23 December 2015
context_page_description: The 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season was the first instance of the United Kingdom's Met Office and Ireland's Met Éireann naming extratropical cyclones. The season started on 10 November with the naming of Storm Abigail and ended on 28 March with the dissipation of Storm Katie. With a total of eleven named storms, the 2015–16 season is the most active to date.
  Storms are named when they are forecast to cause hazards due to high winds by either organisation. The season is most notable for the amount of rainfall which fell over the UK and Ireland, causing the 2015–16 Great Britain and Ireland floods; most of which is attributed to Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank. The strongest low-level gusts of the season came from storms Gertrude and Katie. On 29 January, Gertrude produced gusts of 105 mph at Lerwick, Shetland Islands while Katie produced a gust of 106 mph on 28 March at The Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight.
  The season preceded the 2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season.
context_section_description: Eva was the fifth storm to be officially named by Met Éireann on 22 December 2015, with an orange wind warning being issued for counties Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal. Gales were also expected in the northwest of the UK, with storm force winds over parts of the Outer Hebrides. There were fears that the storm could cause further disruption to Cumbria in England, where areas were already dealing with the aftermath of flooding from Storm Desmond and in some cases had been flooded twice already. The army and Environment Agency staff were called in to be on stand-by to bolster flood defences.
  Rain associated with the passage of Eva caused further disruption when rivers burst their banks in the Cumbrian towns of Appleby, Keswick and Kendal on the 22 December, with Appleby receiving three to four feet of flood water. The village of Glenridding was badly flooded for the third time in the month. 6000 houses in Ireland were left without power. Liz Truss convened a COBRA meeting to decide on emergency measures, which included the deployment of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment to the affected areas. On 24 December, flood defence gates were closed in Carlisle, Keswick and Cockermouth to limit the damage of rainfall and 20 water pumps and two kilometres of temporary flood barriers were transported to northern England. Ferries operating between Dublin and Holyhead were cancelled due to bad weather on the Irish Sea.
  The media widely reported Storm Eva as being responsible for the flooding which occurred in Lancashire and Yorkshire on 25–27 December 2015. However, communications from the Met Office indicated that Eva's only direct impact on the UK was strong winds and a band of rain during 23–24 December 2015. By 26 December Storm Eva was located over the far north of Norway. The persistent heavy rain from 25–27 December was caused by a subsequent slow moving depression and frontal zone. Despite red warnings for rain being issued by the Met Office on 26 December 2015, no name was given to this depression since there were no warnings issued for wind.
caption: MODIS image of Eva on 23 December 2015
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