Weatherwatch: Ophelia's arrival hints at a new vulnerability for Europe

An off-the-charts hurricane that tracked to Ireland points to climate change pushing ‘tropical oceans’ northward and putting the continent in the firing line

Ophelia formed so far to the east in the Atlantic it caused the United States Hurricane Centre to recast its maps so that they could track the storm. They had not thought it was feasible for hurricanes to head north so near the coast of Europe.

As it was, the cold sea south of Ireland took the sting out of the 15th named storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. Even so the winds of up to 100 miles an hour were only just below hurricane strength when they hit the south coast of Ireland.

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