2024 was the hottest year on record, and unsurprisingly, the 2025 European Storm Season started off with a bang. The first named storm of the season, Storm Amy, caused widespread damage and destruction through Northern and Western Europe in early October, killing four and leaving over 184,000 homes without power. Storm Amy is part of a worldwide increase of storms that are growing in intensity and danger as a direct result of human led climate change.
What was Storm Amy?
The powerful cyclone formed October 1st and dissipated October 6th, 2025. The storm was a result of two western Atlantic hurricanes, Hurricane Imelda and Hurricane Humberto. These powerful weather systems moved across the north Atlantic, transitioning into a low pressure system with incredibly strong winds and heavy rains. The decision to name the weather system was to emphasise to the public the risks of the storm, and to hopefully save lives. As the first storm to be named in the 2025 European Storm System, it was named Storm Amy.
The storm affected 10 countries in Northern and Western Europe, with Ireland and the UK being the hardest hit. Heavy rainfall was felt on Thursday, with the storm making landfall in Ireland on Friday, October 3rd. It was a very damaging storm, with the west coast of Ireland bearing the brunt of the gusts.The Irish National Meteorological Service, Met Éireann, issued alerts for weather ranging from yellow to red. The highest category, red severe weather warnings, are rarely issued. They prompt people in affected areas to take active measures to protect themselves and their properties, by staying indoors and avoiding all non-essential travel.
County Donegal received a red wind warning due to extremely strong wind gusts, with consistent wind speeds of up to 89 km/h recorded in some areas.
Effects of the storm
Laying in the north west of the Republic of Ireland, Co Donegal was the most impacted by the storm with winds up to 148 km/h recorded. Wind speeds above 118 km/h are considered hurricane strength winds, meaning the winds experienced on the west coast were well within limits to be defined as hurricane strength.
There was one recorded death in Ireland as a result of a wind related incident. Tommy Connors of Letterkenny lost his life after being blown from a roof in Co Donegal. At the time of his death, the county was under a status red weather warning. Across Europe, the storm took the lives of three others, with two in France and one in Poland.
There were reports of localised flooding in many areas as well as significant tree and property damage. Many areas across the northwest including County Donegal lost power with around 49,000 homes going without electricity for almost 3 days. Those in affected areas were urged to conserve water, with ‘4,000 homes without water in Co Donegal. There were DART delays, road closures and bridge collapses, with over 100 flights cancelled in Dublin Airport due to weather impacts from Storm Amy.
Destruction of Storm Amy: part of a larger shift in storm frequency and power?
Human consumption of fossil fuels leads to heat being trapped in our atmosphere, creating a warming or “greenhouse” effect. Since the industrial revolution in 1850, each decade has been successively warmer than the last. Hurricanes and cyclones draw their power from warm water, and as the oceans warm, these storm systems grow more powerful and destructive.
Warming of the planet is already having tangible effects on storms, as seen in last year’s Atlantic hurricane season. On average, climate change made Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms one category stronger than they would have been previously. An increase in category means faster winds and increased predicted storm damage. One climate scientist said that “Every hurricane in 2024 was stronger than it would have been 100 years ago,” (Daniel Gilford) “Through record-breaking ocean warming, human carbon pollution is worsening hurricane catastrophes in our communities.”
Ireland is already a rainy country, but with climate change the Autumn/Winter season could see an approximately 20 per cent increase in precipitation. If current trends persist, Irish winters will be wetter, warmer, and stormier. With warm ocean water, hurricanes could also potentially move with more ease across the Atlantic, maintaining strength, and hitting Ireland stronger than before. These weather systems are known as PCT, or extra tropical remnants of hurricanes. Studies show that with increases in temperature and humidity, these PCTS will hit Europe with increasing frequency, and Ireland will bear the brunt of these forces.
Warning and Action
In short, warming oceans are creating the perfect conditions for storms to form and grow into hurricanes and cyclones. While these conditions do not account for an increase in the amount of storms, they do account for an increase in strength and ability to grow faster than before.
Storm Amy was a glimpse into the storms going to come to Ireland. It revealed the lack of weather resistant infrastructure on the west coast, with the power lines and water treatment facilities not equipped for the wind speeds of storms of the future. Like the rest of the world, Ireland has to face the reality of dealing with these increasingly intense storms. The country has to take action to prepare for future extreme weather patterns, as these trends are only picking up pace.
