Storms imminent

It's all over the news here in the UK: expect high winds as of tonight.

The Met Office is still predicting very windy weather to affect many parts of the UK this weekend, as a deep depression moves in from the Atlantic. Heavy rain will be an additional hazard, especially in the west. Strong winds will come in two spells. The first, on Saturday evening and night, will affect almost all parts, but more especially the west and southwest. Over exposed coasts and hills, gusts of 70 to 80mph are likely. Inland, gusts will attain 60mph quite widely, though isolated gusts of 70mph are also possible here, between about midnight and 6am, when the rain is at its most intense. These winds will be from a southerly direction The second period of strong winds will come during Sunday afternoon and evening. There is more uncertainty surrounding this event, though an east-west oriented band across central parts of the UK, including the central lowlands of Scotland, is currently at greatest risk. Gusts are expected to reach about 80 mph on exposed coasts and hills, and about 70mph inland. These winds will be from a westerly or southwesterly direction. The events described above bring a significant risk of disruption and are also likely to cause some structural damage.

Hope that anyone caught up in that vicious winter storm in the central US is OK, the reports do not sound very good at all.