Storm Helene hits parts of England and Scotland with 80mph gusts, and 'danger to life' warning when Storm Ali arrives tomorrow

1/20
Tom Powell18 September 2018

Storm Helene has hit Britain with fierce winds of up to 80mph and heavy rain and forecasters are warning of 'danger to life' when a second storm, Ali, arrives tomorrow.

The sunny spell which saw Brits bask in 25C yesterday has quickly given way to grey skies after the remnants of the storm rolled in from the west coast overnight.

Cornwall has taken the brunt of the bad weather so far, with residents taking to social media to report strong gusts on Tuesday morning.

The Met Office warned that commuters could face travel disruption as a result of strong winds and heavy rain, particularly across Scotland and northern England.

London remained warm but drizzly on Tuesday with forecasts suggesting the capital could be hit with rain showers over the next two days.

The stormy weather is set to worsen across the country on Wednesday and Thursday as a new weather front named Storm Ali batters northern parts of the UK.

Londoners brace the windy weather on Tuesday morning
Jeremy Selwyn

A warning is in place for Scotland and northern England on Wednesday, which states road, rail and ferry services may be affected as well as possible damage to buildings.

By Thursday, heavy rain is expected, especially in western parts of Wales and the north-west of England.

Disruption to transport, falling trees, power cuts and even danger to life from flying debris are all possible.

Laura Ellam, deputy meteorologist with the Met Office, said: "Throughout this week we are expecting to see periods of strong winds across parts of the UK, as well as some heavy rain.

NOAA deep space satellite imagery shows Storm Helen rising up the Atlantic towards the UK
NOAA

"Some very strong winds are possible in the northern half of the UK on Wednesday, then on Thursday areas further south could see a spell of persistent rain.

"The timing and development of both these systems remains uncertain, however, so please keep up to date with the warnings and forecasts."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in