Within the WASA project (von Storch et al. 1998; Bull Am Meterol Soc 79(5):
741-760) an extensive data set containing station pressure values was used
to calculate geostrophic winds (Alexandersson et al. 1998; Global Atmos Oce
an Syst 6:97-120). Geostrophic winds were analysed in terms of percentiles
to give a measure of long-term variations in synoptic-scale storminess. In
this paper an update to 1998 is presented. In the Scandinavia, Finland and
Baltic Sea area the most recent years, especially the cold and calm year 19
96, seem to have brought an end to the stormy period centred on 1990. In th
e more westerly British Isles, North Sea and Norwegian Sea area, storminess
is still at high levels compared with the less intense period between 1930
and 1980. The long-term increasing trend in NW Europe storminess that star
ted in the 1960s seems to have been broken.