8th December 2011

Hurricane Bawbag strikes Scotland

Gusts of 165mph swept across Scotland as ‘Hurricane Bawbag’ (officially known as Cyclone Friedhelm) arrived. It was the most destructive storm to hit the country in a decade and elicited the UK’s first ever ‘red’ warning for wind to be issued by the Met Office. In preparation for its arrival, many bridges, including the Tay Bridge and Skye Bridge, were closed – and so were most schools.

Public transport disrupted

Public transport was severely disrupted, trains became stranded, and the airports at Glasgow and Edinburgh cancelled several flights. More than 150,000 homes lost power, and around 5000 of them were still waiting to be reconnected on 10 December, according to a report by BBC News.

Bawbag, a slang word for scrotum, garnered worldwide attention after it was used on social, broadcast and print media. On 9 December, the Daily Record website, reported, the “online forums went into overdrive, with the term topping the list of worldwide Twitter trends for several hours. Tops and T-shirts were even made sporting the slogan ‘Hurricane Bawbag – a load of old wind’.  Millions of Twitter users around the world, most of whom didn’t know the meaning of the word bawbag, made the term viral.”