A first Hand Experience
If you lived in Cornwall this winter you would have experienced both weather bombs and sting jets. These are not simply stronger winter storms, they are scary and dangerous.
When the two combine you are best off somewhere else. Storm Goretti (January 8–9, 2026): was a textbook “weather bomb” and produced a documented sting jet.
Debbie and I experienced Storm Goretti onboard Tallulah up the River Fal on an island based pontoon, only reachable by dinghy. In theory it was a safe hurricane hole. Beside the issue of whether a ship is safer in port or out at sea in a hurricane Tallulah had no options to go to sea as she was set up for the winter and not sea ready.
On the pontoon were ten yachts, two of them including Tallulah pilot cutters. We estimated there were about 200 tons of yachts tied to the pontoon. Tallulah and the other pilot cutter had people on board as our mutual concern was would the pontoon break up? In those circumstances we would quickly depart from the pontoon and head for a soft mudbank downwind as it was unlikely we could go upwind.
Keeping track of the storm minute by minute, mile by mile, was simple using a Facebook page, called the Kernow Weather Team. We knew exactly where the sting was from their frequent storm updates and the comments from subscribers. We followed it on its path eastward across Cornwall, felt it as it reached us and felt relieved when it had passed us by.
The Sting itself lasted for about 45 minutes starting at 9:10 pm and the gale itself eased about 4am on the Friday morning. Luckily the pontoon held together and Tallulah was fine apart from scuffed paintwork and wood on the chain plates. Did we sleep – only when the wind moderated.
The Atlantic storm engine affecting the UK
The UK sits directly in the path of the main North Atlantic storms. In winter, cold polar air meets warmer Atlantic air with the strongest temperature difference of the year.
It is that contrast which fuels storm development.
As it increases, low pressure systems deepen faster, wind fields expand rapidly, and sea states become steep and choppy before they become organised into longer swell patterns.
This is where the UK’s strongest winter storms develop, and over long periods that repeated Atlantic exposure has helped shape the rugged, cliffed west coasts of England, Ireland and Scotland, in contrast to the generally smoother and more sheltered eastern shores.
Weather bombs, rapidly deepening Atlantic storms
A weather bomb is the common term for explosive cyclogenesis.
It describes an Atlantic low pressure system whose central pressure falls extremely fast, typically around 24 millibars in 24 hours across the North Atlantic storm track.
Many of the UK’s most severe winter windstorms develop this way.
They usually form west or south west of Britain where cold polar air collides with warm, moisture rich Atlantic air, often beneath the jet stream which feeds extra energy into the system.
As pressure drops rapidly:
The storm tightens
Rotation speeds up
Winds accelerate sharply toward the low pressure centre
For sailors the practical signals are familiar.
A fast falling barometer.
Wind rising hour by hour.
Seas becoming steep far quicker than expected.
Why weather bombs produce harsh winter sea states
In slower developing gales, waves lengthen into rolling swells that often proceed the gale itself.
Been there – experienced that!
When we first started Classic Sailing I ran a voyage from Plymouth heading towards the Channel Islands. On nearing Start Point I noticed a swell setting in from the South West. A quick check on the barometer showed a significant decline and I began to consider turning back to Plymouth. One thing I have learnt at sea is if you think of a safety action twice that is once to many. So heading back to Plymouth we did. Shortly after making the decision there was a Gale Warning issued by the Met Office and broadcast in the South West by the Maritime Coastguard Agency. Sometimes the old knowledge beats the modern forecaster!
Back to the explanation:
In rapidly intensifying storms:
- Wind strength increases quickly
- Wave height builds fast
- Wave period remains short
This creates steep, breaking seas that pound hulls, strain rigging, and exhaust crews.
This steepness is what makes winter gales feel far more aggressive, ugly is a good description, than autumn storms at similar wind speeds.
Sting jets, the violent phase within some winter storms
Some weather bombs develop an additional feature known as a sting jet.
Rather than affecting the whole storm, a sting jet is a narrow core of exceptionally strong wind that forms within it.
It is typically:
- Only a few dozen miles wide
- Short lived, lasting a few hours at most
- Moves rapidly with the storm
- Far stronger than the surrounding gale
On satellite imagery it often appears at the tip of a curved hook of cloud wrapping around the storm centre, resembling a scorpion’s tail and sting.
That “sting” marks where the strongest winds are plunging toward the surface.
Storm Goretti was both a weather bomb and a sting jet which saw an atmospheric pressure drop of over 30mb in 18 hours. The storm produced sting jets of 123mph gusts in some areas, Fistral Beach, Newquay, only 18 miles to the windward of Tallulah.
How weather bombs and sting jets form from Atlantic depressions
My thanks to the Kernow Weather Team for helping me write about ‘sting jets’
Inside major storms, air flows along organised pathways known as conveyor belts.
Warm air rises ahead of the storm, feeding cloud and rain.
Cold air sinks and wraps around the back of the system.
The sting jet forms within this descending cold air stream.
As rain or snow falls into this cold air, some evaporates.
Evaporation removes heat, making the air even colder and denser.
Colder air sinks faster and so the pattern self generates.
As it accelerates downward, wind speeds increase sharply.
When this fast moving air reaches the surface it produces violent gusts far beyond the wider storm wind field.
Eventually the cold air flow cuts itself off, which is why sting jets are intense but brief.
After the Storm Grotty blew through Debbie and I returned to Mermaids to find all was well. The major impact was loss of the internet for five days which for Classic Sailing was very annoying.
Weather bombs and sting jets explained simply
A weather bomb describes how fast the storm intensifies.
A sting jet describes a short violent burst of extreme wind inside some storms.
Most severe UK winter storms are weather bombs.
Only some develop sting jets.
When both occur together, conditions escalate brutally fast.
Why this behaviour is mainly a winter feature in the UK
Winter brings:
Stronger temperature contrasts
More energetic jet stream patterns
Repeated Atlantic storm systems
This combination favours rapid deepening storms and the conditions needed for sting jets to form.
Autumn gales can be strong.
Winter gales are more likely to intensify rapidly and produce steep chaotic seas.
What you would notice onboard as a weather bomb or sting jet approaches
Weather bomb phase
The barometer falls quickly
Wind strengthens steadily over hours
Sea state becomes steep and confused early
Sting jet phase (if one develops)
Wind strength jumps within minutes
Sail loads spike sharply
Helm balance changes suddenly
Sea steepens again very rapidly
This is often the hardest and most dangerous part of the storm.
