Met Office issue weather warning of severe gales

The gales, severe at times, are likely to affect central and northern parts of Britain during Wednesday and at first on Thursday with a period of storm force winds for parts of Western and Northern Scotland (for which a separate Amber warning is in force).

A spokesman said: “Very strong winds are likely to affect northern and central parts of the UK until early Thursday as a very deep low pressure system moves slowly eastwards between Scotland and Iceland. A period of severe gales is expected over the highlighted area as well as the potential for storm force winds over western and northern parts of Scotland. Gusts of 60-70 mph can be expected within the warning area, with 70-80 mph in western and northwestern exposures. The strongest winds will slowly ease on Thursday morning.

“Wintry showers are also expected to give some significant snow accumulations over ground above 200m, with 2 to 5cm possible over parts of northern England and Northern Ireland and 5 to 10 cm over parts of Scotland. Greater amounts are likely over the mountains.”