Storm Amy weather warnings upgraded to amber

Weather warnings for the first named storm of the season have been upgraded to amber for large parts of Scotland.

The Met Office warned that Storm Amy will bring a spell of “damaging winds” on Friday evening and night with gusts of 95mph possible.

A wind warning has been upgraded to amber for Grampian, the Highlands and Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland and Strathclyde between 5pm on Friday and 9am on Saturday, with a risk of danger to life.

Yellow warnings of rain are in force for Northern Ireland and western Scotland on Thursday and for much of the UK on Friday and Saturday when wind alerts are also in force.

Forecasters warn that during the amber warning period there could be transport disruption, power cuts and damage to buildings while flying debris could pose a danger to life.

The Met Office said: “Storm Amy will bring a spell of damaging winds, initially in western areas during Friday evening before gradually transferring north-eastwards through the night and into early Saturday.

“During this period, wind gusts of 60-70 mph are likely fairly widely and may exceed 95mph in more exposed areas. This is likely to lead to travel and power disruption.”

A yellow warning of heavy rain is in force across Northern Ireland and western Scotland until late on Thursday evening.

Forecasters warn that persistent, heavy rain may lead to transport disruption and flooding.

A yellow warning of rain has been issued for all of Scotland and much of northern England between noon and midnight on Friday, and expands to cover northern England, Yorkshire and part of Wales from 3pm.

Yellow warnings of wind will be in force across Scotland and much of northern England and Wales from 3pm on Friday until midnight on Saturday while Northern Ireland will be covered by a wind warning between 2pm on Friday and midday on Saturday.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said: “The impact we will start feeling from Storm Amy will be from Friday afternoon and into the early hours of Saturday, and the most significant impacts that we’re expecting are highlighted by the amber wind warning area that covers much of western Scotland and northern Scotland.

“Within that warning area you could see gusts in excess of 95 miles per hour in the more exposed areas, but wind gusts between 60 and 70 fairly widely, which obviously has the potential to bring some disruption for many.

“The warning itself highlights the possibility of power cuts or damage to buildings, difficult travel conditions as well, so certainly an impactful autumn storm on the way, particularly in Scotland.”

He said there is still a touch of uncertainty as to the exact track and speed of Storm Amy as it moves gradually north eastward, but that it will gradually pull away to the north east later on Saturday and into Sunday which is expected to be a breezy day for many.

Unsettled weather and more wet and windy conditions are expected at the start of next week.

Martin Thomson, from Transport Scotland, said: “Storm Amy is set to bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of Scotland, and we expect to see disruption to the transport network in the warning areas.

“The rain and wind will bring difficult driving conditions, such as reduced visibility and surface water, and are also likely to affect the ferry and rail networks, so it’s important to plan your journey ahead of time.

“Motorists should use the Traffic Scotland website before they set off to make sure that their route is available and you should check with your operator if you are planning to travel on trains, ferries and flights.”

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), the distribution network operator for the north of Scotland, said it is preparing for the storm – with hundreds of additional staff ready to support the response.

SSEN’s head of customer operations for the north of Scotland, Nik Wheeler, said: “Storm Amy is set to be a disruptive autumn storm, and we’ve prepared accordingly, with extra teams ready to reconfigure the network, fix faults, and support our customers.

“Our enlarged teams will be working throughout the weekend to do everything we can to minimise disruption.

“The forecast gales are some of the most severe and sustained we’ve seen in recent years, and storm-force winds of this prolonged nature can pose challenges when it comes to fixing faults, as we can only work at height when conditions become safe for us to do so.

“Customers can be reassured that while we’ll repair the network as soon as we can, we’ll also be keeping them informed and supported in a range of other ways, including co-ordinating welfare checks and hot meal provision for those communities facing extended outages.”