A new ‘danger to life’ weather warning has been issued by the Met Office with the country blanked with alerts for Friday – with only one area spared.
A storm called Eowyn will bring strong winds across the UK on Friday and into Saturday, the Met Office has said. The forecaster said the winds, caused by low pressure, will lead to disruption such as damage to buildings, power cuts and flying debris which could threaten lives.
It also will cause disruption to travel, with road, rail, airports and ferries likely to be affected. Areas across the UK could experience the wintry conditions on Friday and into Saturday.
The UK can expect the arrival of unsettled conditions on Thursday, which will see strengthening winds and heavy rainfall in western parts of the country overnight, the forecaster said as the storm moves in. It follows the “benign” grey, cloudy weather and outbreaks of rain seen by much of the country earlier in the week.
The Met Office has issued a yellow wind warning from midnight on Friday to midday on Saturday across the whole of Northern Ireland and the western half of Scotland, including Glasgow, as the storm sweeps through the country, with these areas expected to be the most affected.
Met Office spokeswoman Andrea Bishop said: “Storm Eowyn will bring a period of very unsettled, potentially disruptive, weather to the UK through Friday and into Saturday. Pronounced ‘Ay-oh-win’, the system will begin to influence the UK’s weather on Friday, with strengthening winds initially in north-western parts of the UK with accompanying heavy rainfall.
“Updates to our current warnings will follow shortly and the forecast details are likely to be fine-tuned during the week, so stay tuned to your local forecast and keep up to date with Met Office warnings via our website and app.”
And the warning from the Met Office states: “Storm Éowyn is expected to bring very strong winds and some disruption on Friday.” A map shows the whole of the country with yellow warnings except for the south east of England. The national weather agency continues: “Storm Éowyn is expected to pass close to or across the northwest of the UK on Friday before clearing to the northeast on Saturday.
“Whilst there is some uncertainty in the track of Éowyn, a spell of very strong winds is likely, initially southeasterly before turning westerly, with peak gusts of 50-60 mph inland, 60-70 mph around some coasts and hills, and perhaps up to 80 mph in exposed parts of western Scotland. The wind strength will gradually ease across southern areas later on Friday.”
The warning has been updated this morning with a new “high impact” alert for parts of the country. It states: “The warning area has been expanded across a larger part of the UK and has been superseded by a high impact warning across Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, northern England and north and west Wales. The end time has been brought forward with a separate warning for Saturday across northern UK.”
The wind strength is expected to ease gradually through Saturday from the south. The change to conditions is being caused by a powerful jet stream pushing low pressure across the Atlantic and towards the UK, following a recent cold spell over North America, the Met Office said.
Another area of low pressure could bring further wet and very windy weather across the UK by Sunday. There is the potential for further weather warnings over the weekend and throughout next week, the Met Office added.
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