UK weather forecast latest: Storm Freya to batter Britain with 80mph winds today after 'danger to life' warning issued

Hatty Collier3 March 2019

Storm Freya is set to batter parts of the UK with 80mph winds today after forecasters issued a "danger to life" warning.

The storm will hit on Sunday afternoon and be severe enough to risk injuries and danger to life from flying debris and large waves.

Damage to buildings and trees is also expected with travel disruption and power cuts possible.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning, which runs from 3pm on Sunday to 6am on Monday.

It is warning people to be aware of possible hazards including tiles being blown from roofs, fallen branches, and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts and coastal roads.

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Gusts between 55mph and 65mph can be expected, with wind speeds reaching up to 80mph in coastal areas.

Strong winds were seen across Scotland on Saturday night as a separate weather system moved over.

A gust of around 70mph was recorded at South Uist, while winds of 45 to 50mph blew through Glasgow and Edinburgh.

"Eyes really now start to turn towards the South West and this afternoon when we will start to see the winds rip up," Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said.

"In our warning area we are catering for gusts reaching between 50 and 60 miles per hour, even inland. Parts of Wales and the Irish Sea coast of north-west England is where we could see 70 to 80 miles an hour.

"The strongest winds will be limited to parts of western England and Wales, but the warning area includes parts of the Midlands and over towards Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as well.

"But they probably wont see the strongest winds until the very back-end of Sunday going into Monday morning."

Travel disruption is expected 
REUTERS

Freya will have moved into the North Sea by rush hour on Monday morning, although there will likely be some residual impacts in its wake.

"We can expect some branches and a few trees being blown down and there's also scope for some tiles being blown from roofs and also some power cuts as well," Mr Snell said.

It will still be quite breezy along the North Sea coast of England, but the winds will have died down significantly.

The storm warning, issued on Friday, came on the same day the forecaster provisionally announced that last month set a new temperature record, with average maximum daily peaks of 10C.

This beat the previous record of 9.8C, set in 1998.

Despite the start of the month seeing snow and freezing temperatures, the Met Office also said that the average mean temperature for February was 6.0C - the second warmest on record.

Clear skies and colder nights prevented the total average from being beaten, but the mean minimum daily temperature was still "well above average", according to the forecaster.

With the high temperatures came plenty of sunshine, and last month has provisionally been named the second sunniest February on record for the whole of the UK.

Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, a climate researcher at Royal Netherlands Meteorolgical Institute, told the Guardian that temperatures jumping above 20C in February were a “one-in 200-year event”.

But storm Freya's arrival will bring a much less spring-like start to March.

Sunday will see rain and gales, with the western parts of England and Wales most affected.

The Met Office warning covers large parts of the country, including Wales, south-west England, the Midlands, northern England and parts of southern Scotland.

Road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible, and some roads and bridges may have to close.

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