Will the United Kingdom Storm be Like 1987?

There's been much hype in the news and social media this week about a strong storm that will hit the United Kingdom and Ireland Sunday night. (Lightning photo taken earlier today by Paul Appleby Photography on the coast of North East England).

The number two Google Search in the U.K. Thursday was "Met Office (the British weather office)." Many comparisons have been made to the 1987 storm, but what are the facts as we know them right now?

The approaching storm this weekend already has winds over hurricane force in the ocean, and NOAA is predicting waves to 50 feet. The WaveWatch model agrees with that, showing waves over 48 feet offshore (and, amazingly, 36-foot waves near shore!).

Our meteorologists are writing a story to update this one later tonight. Speaking to them internally, they are not hyping the storm and don't think it will compare to 1987.

The mega storm back then had a minimum pressure of 953 mb... the European model (as of this writing) is predicting a sub-958 mb low pressure system over the water, then as low as sub-964 mb in the U.K. mainland.

The European model is showing wind gusts above 70 mph on land, but the U.K. and Ireland have a long history of strong winter storms. Even if it doesn't approach 1987 levels, there will be damage and you will likely see this storm on television Monday, in my opinion.