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Cyclone Dirk was a large and deep European windstorm that affected Western Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to Iceland from 22 December 2013.
Deepening below is considered uncommon in the North Atlantic, but has been recorded on a number of occasions, measured from ships transiting the ocean and from land based-recording stations. Offshore the minimum low pressure of the "Dirk" storm was forecast to reach a low of .
On land the low pressure during the storm was measured at on 24 December at Stornoway, Isle of Lewis off the north west coast of Scotland. This was the lowest atmospheric pressure measured in Britain and Ireland since 1886 (127 years), when a low of was recorded in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The most recent low pressure record near such values in Stornoway was measured on 20 December 1982 at . The all-time low pressure record for the British Isles remains at , recorded at Ochtertyre, Crieff in Perthshire on 26 January 1884.
At the southernmost tip of the Faroe Islands a low air pressure of was recorded on Christmas Eve at Akraberg lighthouse. This was not as low as the Faroese record of 930.3 hPa, set at Vagar airport during the passage of the Braer Storm of January 1993.
Northwestern Spain saw strong wind gusts, with coastal areas seeing large waves and wind damage. A gust of was measured at the Estaca de Bares peninsula in Galicia. A strong frontal system from the storm passed over continental Europe.
The Alps saw strong with a Christmas thaw and several warmth records broken. A peak gust was measured at the French station Iraty in the Pyrenees at . In the English Channel gusts up to were measured on 24 December. In the Swiss Alps winds over were recorded. MeteoSwiss recorded at Gütsch Andermatt () a peak wind of , the highest value since 1981).
Weather stations in many parts of Germany saw the warmest 24 December since records began. Binningen in Basel recorded ( above normal). In Salzburg on the north edge of the Alps made it the mildest 25 December seen. After the low-pressure fronts passed a wake vortex formed over the Alps, which brought to northern Italy severe storms and heavy snowfall in the Alps (Northern Ticino, Misox up to in a day, East Tyrol up to ). San Bernardino, Switzerland saw the most one-day snowfall since measurements began (thus at least 1952).
| Site | Area | Elevation (m) | Max gust speed (mph) | Max gust speed (km/h) |
| Needles Old Battery | Isle of Wight | 80 | ||
| Berry Head | Devon | 58 | ||
| Langdon Bay | Kent | 117 | ||
| Gorleston | Norfolk | 4 | ||
| Manston | Kent | 49 | ||
| Mumbles Head | West Glamorgan | 43 | ||
| South Uist Range | Western Isles | 4 | ||
| Plymouth Mountbatten | Devon | 50 | ||
| Solent | Hampshire | 9 | ||
| Aberdaron | Gwynedd | 95 | ||
| North Wyke | Devon | 177 |
| Site | Area | Precipitation (mm) |
| Kenley Airfield | Greater London | 53.6 |
| Charlwood | Surrey | 41 |
| Wych Cross | East Sussex | 38.6 |
| Alice Holt Lodge | Hampshire | 33.8 |
| Goudhurst | Kent | 32.2 |
| Middle Wallop | Hampshire | 31.6 |
| Frittenden | Kent | 30.8 |
| Cluanie Inn | Ross & Cromarty | 30.8 |
| Liscombe | Somerset | 30.4 |
| Hurn | Dorset | 29.8 |
| Larkhill | Wiltshire | 29.2 |
In Finistere, France the Pont de l'Iroise was closed to traffic overnight on 23–24 December. The Saint-Nazaire Bridge crossing the river Loire also had traffic restrictions in place. The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge of the Dartford Crossing was closed from 12pm on 23 December with traffic running in two directions through the Dartford Tunnel. The Sheppey Crossing was closed, with the Orwell Bridge also closed to high sided vehicles near Ipswich. Denmark saw few problems with transport, but high-sided and wind-sensitive vehicles were being warned to stay off the roads, especially the larger bridges.
LD Lines cancelled boats between Le Havre and Dieppe to Portsmouth on 23 and 24 December, with a crossing between Saint-Nazaire and Gijon, Spain also cancelled. Brittany Ferries cancelled crossings from St Malo in Brittany and Ouistreham in Normandy to Portsmouth. Although the ferry from Cherbourg to Portsmouth was due to leave at 10.30pm on 23 December. Brittany Ferries also cancelled the Roscoff to Plymouth ferry. Irish Ferries cancelled the Jonathan Swift Fast Ferry between Holyhead and Dublin on the afternoon of 23 December. 24 December saw all Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services to the Scottish Outer Hebrides cancelled, with the company hoping to run a relief service on Christmas Day. The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company also ran a Christmas Day service, after cancelling sailings, which the company said had not happened since the late 1970s.
The Port of Dover closed at 21:00 23 December due to strong winds and high seas, reopening at 07:30 the morning after. Reports that several ferries spent the night unable to dock riding out the storm in the English Channel. The ferry MV Cap Finistere left on Sunday 22 on a service to Bilbao but turned back to shelter near Brittany after encountering a storm in Bay of Biscay; injured passengers had to be airlifted from the ferry. In the English Channel sea conditions were described as the worst in 16 years. Cargo ship Horst B ran aground in strong winds in the Faroe Islands. A cargo ship reported losing 30 containers overboard off the coast of Brittany.
All flights to and from the Scilly Isles were cancelled and rescheduled until 24 December. Flights to and from Southampton Airport were badly affected by the storm. Gatwick Airport's north terminal was affected by power disruptions on 24 December, stranding thousands of passengers as 145 flights were cancelled due to flooding of electricity substations at the airport. Heathrow cancelled a couple of dozen flights on 23 December. Bristol Airport and Glasgow Airport also reported some disruption. In Spain delays and cancellations were reported at airports in Bilbao, Asturias, Santander and Vigo.
On 21 January 2014 the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom held a one-off evidence session on power disruption during Christmas and the New Year. During the session the Energy Networks Association announced that around 750,000 customers lost electricity during the stormy period over Christmas, with 93-95% of these reconnected within 24 hours. The House of Commons Energy Select Committee on 21 January 2014 was critical of the speed at which UK power networks responded, however the company said that it was now much quicker than it had been in the past at responding to incidents. Mark Mathieson, managing director of SSE's electricity networks, told the committee on 21 January that: "It was just the impact of the event. It was a massive event. Certainly we haven't seen damage like this in the south back from the early 1990s and even back to the Great Storm of 1987". He said that "tried and tested" plans made by the power companies struggled as wind speeds escalated significantly, and predictions failed to estimate the duration of strong winds which resulted in greater damage, coupled with the national reach of the storm which prevented regional distribution companies relying on mutual aid from other regions.
Gatwick Airport conducted its own investigation into the chaotic disruption caused at the airport on Christmas Eve, which saw police being brought in to help staff deal with passengers. The airport accepted all the investigation's recommendations and allocated £30 million for their implementation.
On 3 February Perils AG announced an initial insured property loss estimate from the storm at €275 million, which was subsequently raised to €352 million in the second loss estimate released 23 March 2014. The French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA) estimated the insured damage caused by storm Dirk to amount to 100 million euros in France, causing more destruction and costing more to French insurance companies than tropical Cyclone Bejisa to Réunion and Mauritius in early 2014.
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