Red and amber weather warnings have been issued across the UK as Storm Goretti evolves into a “weather bomb” expected to bring up to 30cm of snowfall in Wales and the Midlands as well as winds of up to 100mph (160km/h) across exposed hills and coastal areas.
The Met Office on Thursday described Goretti, the first named storm of 2026, as a “multi-hazard event” with heavy rain, strong winds and snow, set to be more powerful than Storm Ciarán in 2023 and the Great Storm of 1987.
A storm becomes a weather bomb when its central pressure drops by more than 24 millibars in 24 hours, causing violent winds. Goretti is expected to drop by 36 millibars between 6pm on Wednesday and 6pm on Thursday.
Goretti, named by Météo France, is expected to cause travel disruption, power and communications problems and pose a potential risk to life and property across England and Wales, with the worst of the weather hitting overnight before the storm wanes on Friday.
The Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “As that rain pushes its way and it hits against that cold air that we currently have across us … and so on the northern edge, we are likely to see some fairly significant snow as we go through later [Thursday] and into Friday.”
The warnings stretch from Sheffield in northern England, down to Leicester, across much of the West Midlands and most of Wales, coming into force at 8pm on Thursday and ending at 9am on Friday. As Goretti has changed direction, approaching from the south-west, yellow warnings for snow and ice in Scotland were lifted on Thursday after several days of disruption.
A rare red warning for “dangerous, stormy” winds has been issued by the Met Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly on Thursday evening.
National Grid has issued guidelines including advice to keep a torch and fully charged mobile phone ready for use because of expected power cuts. D?r Cymru and Scottish Water have advised against keeping outdoor taps running, asking customers to instead check and protect exposed pipes and water tanks.
As well as in Wales and the Midlands, heavy snow of up to 20cm is expected in South Yorkshire.
Between 5pm and 11pm in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, forecasters have warned of 90-100mph gusts in exposed places, and there is a further yellow warning for wind for much of south-west England from 3pm on Thursday to 6am on Friday.
A yellow snow warning has been issued for a large part of England and almost all of Wales other than coastal areas from 5pm on Thursday until midday on Friday.
Yellow rain warnings have also been issued across the east of England from 6pm on Thursday to 9pm on Friday, and in west Wales from midday on Thursday to 10am on Friday.
National Highways has issued its own amber warning for snow in the Midlands from 6pm on Thursday to 9am on Friday, warning of “particularly difficult driving conditions” in Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham.
Rail passengers have been advised to check journeys before travelling, with services cancelled across Wales, Cornwall and north-west England. National Rail has said all train services in parts of south-west England will be cancelled on Thursday evening and warned that there were likely to be delays and cancellations on Eurostar routes from London.
Major airports have said they will continue to function normally with the exception of Jersey and Guernsey, which will close at 6pm.
Amber cold weather health alerts have been put in place by the UK Health Security Agency until 11 January, meaning expected severe impacts across health and social care services. Officials expect a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, with younger age groups also potentially affected.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s attention has turned to recovery efforts after days of heavy snow that caused widespread travel disruption, the first minister, John Swinney, said on Thursday. Hundreds of schools across northern Scotland remain closed for a fourth day.
With PA Media
#Red #amber #weather #warnings #Storm #Goretti #evolves #weather #bomb #weather