Amber warning in place as Storm Austen hits parts of UK

- Published

An amber weather warning has come into force in parts of the UK as Storm Austen brings a swathe of powerful winds and heavy rain on Friday.

South West England is forecast to be worst hit by the storm which the Met Office warns could bring travel disruption, power cuts and a possible danger to life.

Wind gusts of 60-70mph, with 80mph in exposed locations, are forecast across Cornwall and parts of Devon, where the Met Office warning is in force until 10:00 BST.

Wind gust of 45-60mph are forecast more widely across most of England and Wales, where two less severe yellow warnings will be in force throughout Friday. A separate yellow warning will also cover part of Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, from 06:00 BST.

Winds of this strength will blow some trees over, bringing a significant risk of transport disruption and there may also be some power cuts.

Winds of this strength will blow some trees over while buildings could also potentially be damaged, leading to a risk of flying debris at the height of the storm.

A number of schools are closed in the impacted areas with many others opening later than usual to avoid the strongest winds.

Train cancellations and speed restrictions are possible because of the increased danger of branches and trees blocking railways.

A number of ferry sailings have also been cancelled, including crossings between Pembrokeshire and Ireland.

Yellow wind warnings cover most of England and Wales with gusts of wind on Friday forecast to reach 45-60mph, with 70mph gusts likely in some places.

As strong as these winds are, the most damaging winds will run to the south of the low pressure centre.

That puts north-west France firmly in the firing line and parts of Brittany could see gusts close to 90mph.

The Channel Islands are also expecting severe gales with gusts up to 80mph.

All schools in Jersey have been told to close on Friday because of the high winds predicted to be caused by Storm Austen.

Heavy rain in Scotland may cause some localised flooding with a Met Office yellow warning for 20-40mm of rain forecast with up to 80mm accumulating in a few areas through Friday.

Storm Boelo to bring travel disruption over the weekend

Closely following Storm Austen will be Storm Boelo, named by the Met Office on Thursday and set to bring another round of stormy weather to the UK over the weekend.

Boelo will bring wet and windy weather across the whole of the UK on Saturday with poor travelling conditions expected due to surface water and spray on faster roads and motorways.

The Met Office has issued yellow wind warnings for Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, valid on Saturday and lasting most of Sunday.

Gusts are forecast to reach 50-65mph widely and could reach 80mph in exposed locations.

There could be some localised disruption with strong winds funnelling through the Central Lowlands for a time.

Transport disruption is expected and there may be some power cuts. Following recent spells of wet weather, there is an additional risk of some localised flooding.

Is it unusual to see two storms so close together?

It is not unusual to get storms one after another - in fact they quite often arrive in clusters.

A strong jet stream is needed to rapidly develop powerful wind storms. The process involved in creating such storms involves shifting warmer air northwards and cooler air southwards across vast areas of the Atlantic.

These temperature contrasts can provide a fertile environment for new low pressure systems to develop and if these subsequently get steered beneath a developmental area of a powerful jet stream, they can rapidly develop to create a new named storm with damaging winds.

When do we see the most named storms?

Although named storms can affect the UK at any time of the year, analysis shows they are much less common in spring and early summer.

May is the only month with no named storms in the 11 years that storms have been named in the UK.

The chances of seeing a storm increases from late summer and throughout autumn with the peak of the season arriving in our winter months.

This increase in storminess is why the storm-naming season begins in September each year.

In about half of the years since 2015, the first storm arrived after 1 November.