Two named storms are set to strike Britain this week during a late winter rampage, the Met Office has confirmed.
The low pressure systems - named Storm Dudley and Storm Eunice - could see strong hurricane-like winds of up to 90mph and the possibility of snow, leading to a flurry of weather warnings.
Dudley has resulted in an amber danger to life warning from 6pm on Wednesday until 9am on Thursday - covering a strip of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
The national weather agency warns there could be power cuts, while "injuries and danger to life is likely" due to huge waves and "beach material" being thrown onto the coasts, sea fronts and properties.
While a less severe yellow warning, covering a much larger stretch of northern Britain, is in place from 3pm on Wednesday until 6pm the next day.
A brief period of calm follows before Eunice strikes, with all of England, Wales and Northern Ireland expected to be impacted.
The Met Office says there is a "small chance that flying debris will result in a danger to life, with fallen trees, damage to buildings and homes, roofs blown off and power lines brought down".
While there could also be a danger to life from waves and beach material on the coasts, as with Dudley.
That yellow warning is in place from midnight on Thursday until 9pm on Friday.
The Met Office's chief meteorologist, Paul Gundersen, said: "An active jet stream is driving low-pressure systems across the country, both of which are likely to cause some disruption and National Severe Weather Warnings have been issued."
Storm Dudley will see strong winds cross western Scotland and Northern Ireland before pushing eastward to northern England, with 80-90mph gusts possible on exposed coasts and hills.
Up to 70mph winds are also a possibility further inland.
Storm Eunice, meanwhile, will then track across central areas of the UK on Friday, with more strong winds of up to 70mph inland.
The strongest winds and worst-affected areas are uncertain at present.
This system is also expected to bring some heavy rain and there is a potential for some significant snowfall over hills in the Midlands and further north.
Met Office meteorologist, Tom Morgan, said: "This whole week is going to see quite a disturbed weather pattern developing across the UK".
He said western parts of Scotland will "bear the brunt" of the strongest winds which could cause "widespread disruption".
He added: "Wind will be the primary cause for concern next week."
Mr Morgan told The Mirror: "Through this week northern parts of the UK will see snow.
"We will see snow in the higher parts of Scotland tomorrow, in places such as the Grampians and the Highlands.
"On Tuesday morning there will be more substantial snow in the high ground of Scotland and in the Pennines in England.
"It's possible that we could see 10cm of snow above 400 metres.
"There could be disruption to rush hour traffic on Tuesday morning along the high routes in central and northern Scotland."
He added that the weather will turn milder on Wednesday before stormy conditions set in at night, with snowfall expected to return on Thursday.
"Snow showers are expected across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England on Thursday," Mr Morgan said.
"Above 300 metres there could be five to 10cms of snow in Scotland. It could even each 10 to 20cms over the top of some mountains.
"The tops of the Pennines could see two to five centimetres, while there could be two to four centimetres above 400 metres in Northern Ireland."
It comes after Storm Malik and Storm Corrie brought strong gale-force winds that caused widespread disruption across the country this year.
Thousands of homes in Scotland were left without power for days after Storm Malik and Storm Corrie battered parts of the country, causing widespread damage.
SSEN said the intensity of the wind storms caused serious damage to the company's infrastructure.
