Storms - list

Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon

18 miles and 180 billion pebbles

This is a list of the major storms to impact Chesil Beach or Hamm Beach. It is not a full list as many storms are undocumented and only those that cause significant damage get documented.

Year	Date	Type	Notes
1703	November	SW Gale	A very major storm with much damage
1824	November	SW Gale	The great hurricane with much damage and flooding
1904	February	Swell
1920	February	SW Gale
1914	February	SW Gale
1924	January	SW Gale	Chiswell badly flooded
1936	11th November	SW Gale
1942	13th December	Swell	Major swell event with much damage in Chiswell
1949		SE Gale	Railway embankment breached
1954	27th November	SW Gale	A major storm with severe flooding of the beach road
1962	18th January	SW Gale and swell	Chiswell sea wall undermined
1974	???	SW Gale	Flooding on the beach road
1976	11th October	SW Gale	Severe flooding of Chiswell and the beach road
1978	February	SW Gale	Several gales in quick succession. Severe flooding in Chiswell and damage at West Bay.
1978	13th December	SW Gale and swell
1979	13th February	Swell	A major swell event with considerable over-topping
1987	16th October	SW Gale	The great hurricane. Severe damage ashore but little flooding around Chesil
1989	16th December	SW Gale	Considerable re-structuring of Chesil Beach. Large amounts of litter on Fleet shoreline
1990	25th January	SW Gale
2008	10th March	SW Gale	Over-topping into the Fleet
2009	9th February	N Gale	Although not a major storm, the pattern of winds and waves had a dramatic effect on the structure of the beach. A note describing the event can be downloaded here.
2014	February	SW Gale	A succession of severe storms with the worst on the 14-15th with major over-topping and re-alignment of the beach crest
2020	27th December	W Gale	Storm Bella. Winds peaking at 80 mph and peak wave heights of 8 metres.
2021	30th January	Swell	Long period wave for about 1 hour peaking at 7.5 metres and 24 second period. Some overtopping at Chiswell and at Ferrybridge. The larger canns at Ferrybridge show some minimal activity. Long period waves continued for several days at a lower wave height.
2022	18-20th February	Gale	Storms Eunice and Franklin. Waves up to 8.5 metres but no over-topping or can activity. Pebbles moved around on the Fleet foreshore and beach substrate exposed in the lower Fleet.
2023	1-2nd November	Gale	Storm Ciaran. Severe storm mainly affecting the northern section of Chesil. Beach breached in two locations at Cogden. A detailed report on the storm is available from the Met Office