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Red weather warning issued as Storm Darragh set to bring 90mph winds

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3 weeks ago

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A severe red wind weather warning has been issued for parts of the UK, with gusts of 90mph expected.

The Met Office has said “damaging winds” associated with Storm Darragh are expected to cause “significant disruption” as the weekend begins.

Flying debris and fallen trees could pose a “danger to life” while large waves and beach material could be thrown on to coastal roads and seafronts.

The warning covers coastal areas of Wales and the South West of England, including Cardiff, Bristol and Devon, and is in place from 3am-11am on Saturday.

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Forecasters predict the strongest winds will begin to ease from late morning.

Image:
The red warning comes into force at 3am on Saturday. Pic: Met Office

Red weather warnings are the most serious type, and are only issued by forecasters when “dangerous weather” is expected.

“It is very likely that there will be a risk to life, with substantial disruption to travel, energy supplies and possibly widespread damage to property and infrastructure,” the Met Office website states.

A separate red warning for wind has also been issued by the Irish meteorological service, Met Eireann.

Storm Darragh: How bad will it be and how long will it last?

Jo Robinson

Weather producer

@SkyJoRobinson

It’s been an unsettled few days, with spells of wind and rain, but stormy conditions are on the way, just two weeks since Storm Bert brought significant flooding.

A strong jet stream has helped develop Storm Darragh – the fourth named storm of the season – and direct it towards the UK and Ireland, with very strong winds the main concern.

Inland areas in the west will see gusts reaching 60 to 70mph over a long period of time, potentially more than 12 hours.

Coastal regions will see stronger gusts, in excess of 90mph for areas within the red wind warning.

But much of the UK and Ireland will see a prolonged spell of gales or severe gales, which will increase the risk of falling trees, damage to buildings and power cuts.

The direction will have an impact too, with the strongest winds coming from the north or north-west rather than from the prevailing south-west.

That means areas typically more sheltered will be exposed this time.

There’ll be some heavy rain with Storm Darragh too, but amounts will be less than what we saw with Storm Bert.

That said, 20 to 30mm of rain is expected quite widely in the west, locally up to 90mm, with localised flooding possible.

South Wales looks most at risk of the highest rainfall totals.

Sunday will see the wind easing as Storm Darragh clears away, but it will still be quite windy in the south and east.

Next week looks drier and calmer overall, but it’ll be on the cold side, with overnight frost and fog.

It covers coastal areas of Ireland including Mayo, Galway, Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo and comes into force from Friday evening until early Saturday morning.

“A period of extremely strong winds will develop during the early hours of Saturday morning as Storm Darragh moves across the Irish Sea,” the Met Office said.

Image:
The weather warnings across Ireland for Friday (L) and Saturday (R). Pics: Met Eireann

“Gusts of 90 mph or more are possible over coasts and hills of west and south Wales, as well as funnelling through the Bristol Channel with some very large waves on exposed beaches.

“The strongest winds will begin to ease from late morning, though it will remain very windy with Amber wind warnings still in force until the evening.”

Heavy rain, flooding and snow also expected

Two amber warnings for wind and a swathe of yellow warnings also remain in place covering Northern Ireland, the west coast of England, Wales and parts of Scotland on Saturday.

Image:
Two amber warnings for wind and one for rain has also been issued. Pic: Met Office

Snow is expected in large parts of central Scotland, with a Met Office yellow weather warning in place from 8pm Friday evening until 9am on Saturday.

Parts of Wales and Northern Ireland are also covered by rain warnings. Similar areas were badly hit by Storm Bert late last month.

Image:
Snow is expected in Scotland on Friday night and into Saturday. Pic: Met Office

An amber warning is in place for southern parts of Wales from 3am to 6pm on Saturday, with 20-30mm expected to fall in a three-six hour window.

Up to 90mm of rain is expected overall, which may lead to some flooding and disruption, the Met Office said.

Rain in parts of Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, and some of the North East of England may also cause disruption on Saturday.

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Bus and train services are likely to be affected and spray on the roads may make journey times longer.

At the time of writing, seven flood warnings and 98 flood alerts had been issued by the Environment Agency for England, while six flood alerts were in place across Wales and 11 in Scotland.

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