Hurricane Kirk Remnants Forecast to Hit Europe This Week

(Bloomberg) — The remnants of Hurricane Kirk are forecast to hit northwest France on Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and gale-force winds.

Hurricane Kirk peaked at Category 4 storm over the Atlantic last week, but is weakening as it heads toward Europe. Still, the post-tropical cyclone will bring driving rain and wind gusts as strong as 130 kilometers (81 miles) an hour to coastal areas, according to forecaster La Chaine Meteo. Sea swells could be up to 10 meters (33 feet) in some areas.

The UK’s Met Office, which has been reviewing potential weather warnings as Kirk approaches, now expects France to bear the brunt of the storm.

“There is increasing confidence now that it will track to the south of the UK, bringing heavy rains and strong winds to northern France,” the Met Office said in a statement on Monday. “Although north and south shifts of the systems track remain possible, the threat of significant impacts to the UK from this system are now much reduced.”

So far, 13 storms have formed across the Atlantic Ocean in the six-month hurricane season and four hurricanes have hit the US, including Helene and Beryl in July that shut down power in Houston, the fourth-most populous US city.

Yellow storm warnings are already in place for much of France, as another low pressure system moves off the Atlantic on Monday and Tuesday. There are flood alerts in the Ardeche, Gard and Lozere areas of southern France.

The heavy rain across France is likely to disrupt corn harvesting and wheat planting, which are already behind the usual pace for this time of the year. That would add to the woes of French crops from extreme weather, with the soft-wheat harvest seen plunging to the lowest in decades. Last month was the wettest September in 25 years, according to Météo-France. 

–With assistance from Nayla Razzouk.

(Updates with latest Met Office outlook in third paragraph)

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