The Met Office has at least one weather warning active until 6am on Sunday as the stretch, which envelopes four consecutive days, will be particularly wet and windy
Monster gales will reach 80mph during a 63-hour period of weather warnings across the UK.
Forecasters are so concerned about wind and rain over the next four days they’ve issued several weather warnings, with at least one active during the next 63 hours. The largest of these is for both rain and wind across large swathes of England and Wales from Friday at 3pm, though elsewhere there are alerts for wind throughout Thursday and into Friday.
The Met Office’s website reads: “Winds may quite widely gust to around 40-50 mph inland but locally could gust in excess of 60 mph, whilst around coasts, winds may gust to 60-70 mph, perhaps locally nearer 80 mph. The wind and rain may cause disruption to travel, with difficult driving conditions likely.”
Some 70mm of rain is expected to lash across parts of Wales and the Midlands during this period, with the heaviest downpours anticipated on Friday night and into Saturday morning. There are three flood warnings in place, but this figure is expected to rise in the coming days.
The Met Office adds: “A deep low may cross England and Wales from Friday afternoon, clearing to the east Saturday night. The low may bring a period of strong winds to much of the warning area, with some heavy rain likely to the north and west of the low centre, and some hill snow in the north (above about 200 metres).
“Around 15-25 mm of rain may fall quite widely, more particularly across central, northern and western parts of England and Wales, with exposed higher ground in the north and west (particularly parts of Wales, which are at greatest risk of seeing flooding impacts) perhaps locally seeing closer to 50-70 mm.”
The mercury plunged below -4C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, on Wednesday. Temperatures are unlikely to rise significantly in the coming days, forecasters say. Saturday looks to be coldest day of the weekend, and it’ll feel chillier for many due to the huge winds.
Gusts will be so severe there is a slight chance of some damage to buildings, such as tiles blown from roofs, it is thought. The Met Office also says there is a slight chance power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage across the blustery weekend.
But Tuesday looks more settled with light showers expected only in the Southeast of England. However, the cold northerly air will linger and meteorologists believe temperatures will remain below average for the time of year throughout a bitter December.