a european windstorm is a severe cyclonic storm that moves across the north atlantic towards northwestern europe in the winter months. these storms usually move over the north coast of the united kingdom, towards norway but can veer south to affect other countries including ireland, france, belgium, the netherlands, denmark, sweden, austria, germany, czech republic, slovakia, slovenia, switzerland, and poland. as these storms can generate hurricane-force winds (and sometimes even winds at the strength of major hurricanes), they are sometimes referred to as hurricanes, even though few originate as tropical cyclones.