The Met Office has issued amber and yellow weather warnings
75mph winds brought by Storm Ali to the UK pose a “danger to life,” the Met Office has warned.
Severe amber weather warnings are in place for the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland on September 19, until 5pm, and yellow for September 20.
Power cuts affecting mobile phone coverage are likely and powerful gales could dislodge roof tiles and fell trees.
“Flying debris is likely and could lead to injuries or danger to life,” a Met Office spokesman said.
Journey times will also be delayed by cancelled train, bus and plane services.
For England and Wales, the journey to work on Wednesday will be warm and dry. However, #StormAli will bring severe gales to Northern Ireland and heavy rain to the central belt. The worst of the wind won't reach the Central Belt until later pic.twitter.com/rt5fF0ZytJ
— Met Office (@metoffice) September 18, 2018
A less severe yellow warning has been issued until 10pm on Thursday September 20 for the whole of Scotland, northern England, north Wales and Northern Ireland.
A yellow warning for rain also covers England and Wales on Thursday, with a risk of flooding for homes and businesses as 40-60mm of rain is expected widely and up to 80-100mm in parts of Wales and Cumbria.
Ali is the first of the Met’s named storms for the 2018-2019 season. It comes after remnants of tropical storm Helene gusted across the UK.
Met Office chief forecaster Laura Paterson said: “Storm Ali is expected to bring a spell of very strong winds to northern parts of the UK through Wednesday, particularly Northern Ireland, central and southern Scotland and the far northwest of England.
“As this is the first spell of very strong winds of the season, and given that most trees are still in full leaf, we are likely to see some dangerous conditions with falling trees and flying branches and other debris likely.
“Strong winds will be accompanied by heavy, squally showers.”
WXcharts.euMark McLaughlin, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s hydrology duty manager, said: “We are continuing to monitor coastal conditions over the coming days, and will provide further updates as appropriate. We would encourage the public to remain vigilant, especially in areas susceptible to flooding and sign up to Floodline on 0345 988 1188 for the most up to date alerts.”
The winds will gradually ease later on Wednesday, firstly across Northern Ireland, northwest Wales and northern England, and then across Scotland. The outlook for the remainder of the week is rather unsettled with further strong winds and heavy rain expected across most parts of the UK. A Yellow rain warning has been issued for parts of Wales and northwest England on Thursday.
