Just look what’s hit us...
80mph weather bomb Ciara blasts Britain in worst storm for 7 years
BRITAIN will be battered by an 80mph ‘weather bomb’ today, putting lives at risk as the biggest storm in seven years wreaks havoc across the country.
Forecasters last night warned of a ‘danger to life’ from Storm Ciara. The 1,000 milewide storm is set to be the largest to hit the UK since a St Jude’s Day tempest in 2013 left four people dead and 625,000 homes without power.
A severe wind warning has been issued across most of England and Wales. Snow and up to four inches of rain will hit much of the nation while the high winds will be powerful enough to rip tiles from roofs. Drivers were warned that bridges and roads may be closed, and rail passengers were told only to travel if it is ‘absolutely necessary’.
Air traffic control operators were preparing for major disruption to airports and flights. Airline operators have cancelled scores of journeys, including British Airways which confirmed it had contacted customers on ‘dozens of flights’ to inform them they were cancelled due to the storm.
Ferries were facing cancellations with 30ft waves set to batter the south-west and north-west coasts. And those feeling brave enough to venture outdoors t oday were warned to wrap up as the storm brings a cold snap which will plunge temperatures as low as minus 5C in some areas.
The Met Office last night confi rmed t hat Storm Ciara is a ‘weather bomb’ which means its air pressure has plunged by 24 millibars or more in 24 hours.
Forecaster Tom Morgan said an unusually strong jet stream of 260mph had propelled the weather system from the eastern coast of the US to the UK at speeds similar to that of an aeroplane. He added: ‘This storm has led to multiple hazards in the United States in the last few days and there has been very heavy snow in parts of Canada and north-eastern USA.
‘This storm has basically been deepened even further by the very strong jet stream coming out of Arctic Canada and that meant it has quickly moved towards the UK.
‘It causes big temperature contrasts from really cold air in the north to mild air across the midAtlantic. And that contrast leads to the jet stream becoming strong and leads to storms deepening. This storm has moved from Newfoundland to the UK in 36 hours – so a distance of several thousand miles – very quickly.’
Network Rail has imposed a blanket speed restriction of 50mph across the network for today.
Dozens of operators are running reduced services while Grand Central, which runs trains on the East Coast mainline, cancelled all services between London, Bradford and Sunderland.
Drivers were warned of severe disruption in the South East with heavy rain across the country ‘making driving conditions particularly poor’.
Simon Williams, RAC spokesman, said: ‘It’s Black Sunday for travel. More road accidents are expected due to debris and vehicles being blown off course.’
Forecasters are expecting the weather t o r e main unsett l e d next week with snow and wind warnings in place for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Northern England could also see snow on higher ground as well as t he possibil i t y of ‘thundersnow’ showers.