On January 25, 2025, Storm Eowyn struck Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom, bringing record winds and prompting authorities to advise millions to remain indoors.
Nearly one million homes lost power due to the storm, with 725,000 affected in Ireland alone, according to the public operator ESB. In Northern Ireland, around 280,000 homes were impacted, while over 22,000 outages were reported in Scotland.
The storm resulted in a tragic fatality in Ireland, where a man died when a tree fell on his vehicle. Wind speeds reached unprecedented levels, with gusts of 183 km/h recorded near Galway, surpassing records set in 1945. The Met Office in the UK confirmed that the strongest winds in Scotland reached 160 km/h south of Glasgow.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, who took office just a day prior, described the event as a historic storm and held an emergency meeting with response teams. Scottish First Minister John Swinney characterized the situation as very serious, echoing warnings from police.
Widespread damage has been reported, including roofs torn from buildings and the destruction of the indoor stadium at the University of Galway. Most schools in both Ireland and Scotland were closed, and transportation services were severely disrupted, with numerous flight cancellations at airports including Cork, Shannon, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.