Storm Goretti is already impacting Europe, bringing a combination of freezing temperatures, snow, ice and strong winds across key industrial regions. While transport disruption and power outages dominate headlines, the most serious risks are being felt quietly across hazardous area industrial sites where temperature control is fundamental to safe operation.
For industries such as oil & gas, petrochemical processing, offshore production, terminals, tank farms and chemical manufacturing, Storm Goretti is not simply a weather event. It is a direct threat to flow assurance, safety compliance, asset integrity and production continuity.
This article explores what Storm Goretti means for hazardous area operations, the specific technical issues sites will face, and how ATEX-certified heating and temperature maintenance solutions can prevent forced shutdowns, damage and lost revenue.
In hazardous environments, temperature is not simply a comfort issue – it is a critical process variable. Many fluids, chemicals and gases behave very differently as temperatures fall:
Without active temperature maintenance, these changes can lead to blocked pipelines, seized valves, damaged pumps and false instrument readings – all of which can trigger safety trips or forced shutdowns.
Many chemical processes operate within tight temperature windows. Cold ingress during storms can cause:
At Thorne & Derrick, we specialise in engineered heating solutions for hazardous areas, designed to maintain safe operating temperatures during extreme winter weather events such as Storm Goretti.
Typical mitigation strategies include:
All equipment is selected to meet the required zone classification, temperature class (T-class), ingress protection and duty cycle.
