Storm Eunice could produce a rare ‘sting jet’ that could make the storm even more deadly when it makes landfall on Friday morning, scientists have warned.

The storm is expected to bring high winds of up to 100mph in some parts of the country, with the Met Office warning flying debris, toppled power cables and uprooted trees pose a danger to life.

Storm Eunice shares the same markers as the 1987 Great Storm which killed 18 people, forecasters believe.

They warn Eunice could form a narrow band of extremely strong wind – known as a ‘sting jet’ – that could bring additional destruction.

Scientists believe it was a ‘sting jet’ that helped to make the 1987 Great Storm – in which 18 people were killed – so powerful.

A sting jet is a narrow band of very intense winds that can form in powerful weather systems passing over the UK. It gets its name from a hooked cloud head that emerges from the southern flank of a cyclone, which resembles a scorpion’s tale.

Although a sting jet is a narrow band of wind often only about 30 miles across it delivers a punch, with wind speeds often in excess of 100mph. A sting jet is generally short-lived, lasting only for three to four hours.

Areas of low pressure usually feature conveyer belts of warm and cold air, which wrap around the weather system. The warm air rises and the cold air falls, and these cycles accelerate as more warmth and moisture is fed into the weather system.

A sting jet is produced when a jet of air form the cold conveyer descends from three or four kilometres in the atmosphere down to the ground over a period of three of four hours. It gathers speed as it descends, helped by snow and rain falling on it which evaporates and cools the air even further. Eventually the jet can reach speeds of more than 100mph.

British scientists were the first to coin the idea of a ‘sting jet’ after analysing the ‘Great Storm’ of 1987. They now believed this storm caused a sting jet, which probably contributed to the catastrophic damage it wreaked.

Because of their small size sting jets are notoriously hard to predict, but scientists believe Storm Eunice is showing all the markers of producing one.

“The structure and shape of Eunice is similar to the 1987 storm,” said Dr Ambrogio Volonté, a storm scientist at the University of Reading.

“Eunice looks like it may be able to produce a ‘sting jet,” added Dr Peter Inness, meteorologist at the University of Reading.

But whether or not a sting jet is produced, Storm Eunice is sure to bring very severe winds, they both warned.

All rights reserved. © 2021 Associated Newspapers Limited.