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Storm Angus prompts Met Office warnings for southern England | Storm Angus prompts Met Office warnings for southern England |
(35 minutes later) | |
Gale force winds of up to 80mph are expected in coastal areas of southern England from early on Sunday as the first named storm of the autumn season strikes the UK. | |
Residents have been told to prepare for travel disruption, power cuts and possible damage to buildings. | |
The Met Office issued an amber warning for 2am to 11am in West Sussex, Kent, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and the Isle of Wight as Storm Angus approached from the south-east. | |
A wider yellow warning beginning just after midnight covers a swath of southern and south-eastern England, including London, where high winds will be accompanied by heavy rain. Drivers should beware of flooding and debris from trees, the Met Office said. | |
Simon Partridge, a Met Office forecaster, said Angus was identified and named early on Saturday as meteorologists tracked an area of low pressure sweeping in from the Atlantic. As it drew closer, they realised how deep it was, he said. | |
“It’s basically going to be a pretty wet and stormy night,” Partridge said. “The storm itself reaches the south-west of England by around about nine or 10 o’clock tonight, so that’s when the first heavy rain and the strongest winds start to arrive, and then pushes its way north-eastwards overnight, with the strongest winds kicking in just after midnight for the southern coast.” | |
The amber warning, which is only for wind, stretches from Portsmouth, in Hampshire, through to Sussex and the whole of the Kent coast, Partridge said. Forecasters expect gusts of 70-80mph. | |
“Be prepared for disruption to travel services, interruptions to power supplies and some damage to buildings,” the warning says. | |
The yellow warning covers an area roughly from Ipswich to Plymouth, with winds of 45-55mph expected inland and 60-65mph on the coast. | |
Rainfall of up to 40mm is possible over the hills in the areas covered by the warning, but the majority of the wet weather will have cleared the east coast by about 10am on Sunday, with some blustery showers to follow. | |
“It’s one of those: comes and goes pretty quickly. It does rattle through at a fair speed,” Partridge said. “Obviously there will be some localised effects. There could be some disruption to transport, roads with some localised flooding. | |
“We could see some trees coming down, because obviously it’s the first storm of the year so any branches or trees or such which are slightly weaker, this is the first chance that anybody will find out really. The first one is usually the one where you see more in the way of branches coming down, simply because it’s the first chance they’ve had. | “We could see some trees coming down, because obviously it’s the first storm of the year so any branches or trees or such which are slightly weaker, this is the first chance that anybody will find out really. The first one is usually the one where you see more in the way of branches coming down, simply because it’s the first chance they’ve had. |
“But it should be all clear by lunchtime. It’s only really the east coast of East Anglia and up towards the Humber where we’ll still see some strong winds and a little bit of rain, but other than that most places will be turning much drier and with much lighter winds.” | |
In the north, the cold spell continues with light winds and clear skies expected. Drivers crossing the Pennines were confronted with a covering of snow at high levels on Saturday morning, and winter wonderland scenes greeted walkers above 1,000ft (305m) in areas of the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales. There were also some light snow showers on lower ground in West Yorkshire. | |
The UK’s coldest temperatures were in Scotland. Braemar in Aberdeenshire dropped to -8C (17.6F) on Friday night, and -10C was expected in sheltered areas in Scotlandovernight on Saturday and into Sunday morning. |