Storm Henry duly arrived on Monday afternoon, punching winds in excess of 90 mph. As well as the wind, there was a 40 foot southerly swell encapsulated within it which spread to the coasts of Northern Ireland, western and northern Scotland. Fairly obviously this led to some dangerous seas around those coasts, and as a result there were also cancellations to some ferry crossings. The waves proved to be very large too, and for anywhere directly exposed to the onshore wind, most beaches were totally unusable, being messy and far too dangerous.

However, #Storm Henry is now moving away into southern Scandinavia and the winds are easing as quickly as they increased, but it does mean that some sheltered locations will see decent waves and a good period for a day or two yet. Check out some of the bodysurfing specific forecasts for Northern Ireland and northern and eastern Scotland, where some good bodysurfing can be had.

Beware – another deep area of low pressure is forecast to move towards Scotland from near Greenland at the end of the week, bringing another bout of large swell and huge waves. This time it will be a westerly swell, and thankfully not as large as the one created by Storm Henry.

The northern half of the U.K. is certainly seeing some unsettled weather to start the month of February.