Gusts of up to 90mph have been forecast to cause disruption across northern regions of the UK, with windy and “disturbed” weather expected across the country this week.
The Met Office has issued a yellow alert for wind on Wednesday and Thursday for parts of Northern Ireland, most of Scotland and the north of England.
Road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible, the Met Office said. Power cuts could occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage, the forecaster added.
The storm does not yet have a name, but the Met Office has not ruled out giving it one, if and when meteorologists believe it has the potential to cause an amber or red warning, meaning they judge the storm could be dangerous or cause widespread disruption.
Tom Morgan, a Met Office meteorologist, said: “This whole week is going to see quite a disturbed weather pattern developing across the UK.”
The worst of the wind looks likely to hit midweek, with a 24-hour weather warning coming into force from 6pm on Wednesday, stretching down from Orkney to parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Morgan said: “That’s likely to bring some severe gales and possibly storm force winds to parts of this region. Western parts of Scotland look like bearing the brunt of the strongest winds, where we could see gusts of 80mph to 90mph on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
“That’s strong enough to bring some quite widespread disruption, and it’s an area of the country that’s seen several named storms this winter season already.”
As part of the yellow wind warning, the forecaster said there was the potential for inland gusts of up to between 60mph and 70mph, with exposed coasts and hills getting wind speeds of up to 90mph.
“It’s not just going to be strong winds this week,” said Morgan, who warned there could be snow in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, adding there were likely to be snow and ice warnings issued over the next few days.
The bad wintery weather is not just going to affect northern parts of the UK. Morgan said: “The southern parts of England and Wales will see their turn. It looks very, very windy in the south at this stage for Friday. There could be some quite widespread travel disruption in parts of the UK through this week.”
