ABSTRACT
Fourteen separate instances of hurricane force winds have been registered only in December 2013 over the North Atlantic area, affecting Europe on approximately 17th December 2013. From midDecember to early January, major winter storms affected Europe, each of them being associated with very strong winds. They were driven rapidly across the Atlantic by a powerful jetstream. Very deep and also unusually large low pressure areas were observed, dominating large areas of the North Atlantic Ocean. An area of low pressure from the Atlantic preceded also the formation of the cyclone Dirk on 21st of December (dissipated on 28th of December) and it affected the Western Europe from Iberia to Iceland.
