mph wind and rain to batter UK next week
23C heatwave at weekend will give way to rain & 70mph winds
HURRICANE Ophelia will end the weekend’s mini heatwave with 70mph winds on Monday.
MAKE the most of a miniIndian summer this weekend, because it won’t last.
Tearing in close behind from the Atlantic is Hurricane Ophelia, forecast to reach Britain on Monday.
The West of England is expected to be worst-hit by its remnants, with heavy rain and wind speeds of 60-70mph.
It will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Great Storm, which killed 18 people after blasting into the South overnight on October 15, 1987.
The estimated £1billion damage wreaked followed a notorious forecast by BBC weatherman Michael Fish, who said no hurricane was coming and told viewers not to worry.
Temperatures for tomorrow and Sunday in southern and eastern England could be 23C, six degrees above normal.
But Met Office forecaster Alex Burkill warned: “Hurricane Ophelia is forecast to track eastwards towards Iberia for the weekend.
RECORD
“Indications are it will have weakened to an extra-tropical storm by then before continuing towards Britain, probably reaching us early next week. “But it’s definitely something we are keeping an eye on for the possibility early next week of some disruptive conditions.”
Britain’s weather appears likely to continue unsettled into Tuesday, due to a separate band of low pressure, and remain changeable all week.
Ophelia is this year’s 10th named Atlantic storm in a row to become a hurricane – tying a record unbroken since 1893.
During the 1987 storm, the highest measured gust was 120mph, which hit Shorehamby-Sea in West Sussex.
Over the UK schools were forced to shut, damage to the National Grid left thousands of homes without power and 15 million trees were blown down. The forecasting farce prompted an internal inquiry by the Met Office which led it to bring in operational reforms, including how it reports weather warnings.
We are keeping our eye on Ophelia for possible disruption ALEX BURKILL MET OFFICE FORECASTER