Ex-Hurricane Gonzalo: prepare for winds of up to 80mph

The remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo will hit the UK during Monday night into Tuesday, bringing severe gales of up to 80mph for some places.

As a hurricane, it caused significant damage and disruption on Bermuda, leaving much of the island without electricity.

Even though it won’t be anywhere near as powerful when it arrives on our shores, it could still cause a few problems as gales sweep across the country, along with heavy rain.

It’s impossible to get a hurricane here in the UK, due to them being tropical storms and needing a sea temperature of 26C or above to survive.

However, the left over energy of the hurricane is being picked up by the jet stream, which is helping to keep it going as a potent area of low pressure as it travels across the Atlantic.

How windy and where?

The strongest winds will arrive during Monday night, following a band of heavy rain, and persist through Tuesday.

As a result, the Met Office has issued a yellow warning that covers much of the UK, highlighting the areas that are most likely to be affected.

Gusts of wind of around 50-60mph are expected inland, 60-70mph for hills and coasts, with the possibility of 80mph gusts for the far north of Scotland.

This will have the potential to cause some damage to trees, maybe disrupt power supplies and bring some transport disruption – especially with the strongest wind coinciding with rush hour on Tuesday morning.

Heavy rain

As well as the strong winds, heavy rain will sweep eastwards across the UK on Monday night, slowly clearing from eastern areas on Tuesday morning.

The intensity of the rain could cause some localised flooding – especially where falling leaves have blocked drains.

It will also make for tricky travelling conditions on Tuesday, as the rain combined with strong winds reduces visibility – particularly on the faster roads.

However, even though a spell of nasty weather is expected, it is worth pointing out that this is nothing unusual for this time of year.

Gales, heavy rain and the remnants of hurricanes often affect the UK during autumn. Nevertheless, there is the potential for some of us to experience localised disruption during the next 24 hours.

Don’t forget, you can get the latest forecast on the Channel 4 Weather website. I’ll also be tweeting updates on Twitter – @liamdutton

Image: EUMETSAT