Warnings as 89mph winds hit Wales
WINDS of up to 89mph were recorded in Wales yesterday as Storm Diana battered the country.
Weather warnings from the Met Office were upgraded to cover most parts of the country yesterday and today.
Capel Curig was the windiest place in the UK yesterday with gusts of 89mph recorded.
The fire service was kept busy with incidents, including a report of a metal garden shed blown onto the main road in Aberfan and a chimney which fell on to a vehicle in Aberystwyth. There were no reports of injuries.
There were also speed restrictions on part of the M4 around Swansea.
Severe weather warnings for wind yesterday and today were updated to include a larger part of Wales.
A yellow wind warning covering all of Wales is in place from 3am until 2pm today.
The warning states: “A spell of wet and windy weather is expected, with a small chance of very strong and disruptive winds.”
It adds: “A weather system will move northeastwards across the UK on Thursday bringing widespread strong winds.
“Inland gusts of 50mph are likely with gusts of 60-65mph in exposed locations around Wales and western England.
“There remains a small chance that this system will intensify as it moves northeastwards bringing even stronger winds to southwest England, Wales and on into northern England and southeast Scotland.
“If this occurs, gusts of 70-80mph could be seen, mainly in exposed locations, bringing increased likelihood of more significant disruption.
“In either case, winds will moderate by late morning across western parts. Heavy rain is also likely to affect southern and western England as well as Wales, and following on from recent wet weather this may lead to some very localised surface water flooding.”
Met Office spokesman Richard Miles said the warnings are at the “lower end of the impact scale”, but advised people to be cautious in the conditions.
Diana is not on the list of the Met Office’s official storm names for this winter, and originated further south.
Mr Miles said the storm, named by the Portuguese authorities, “had quite an impact on islands in the Atlantic”, but had weakened as it travelled towards the UK.
He explained: “By the time it got to us it would not meet the criteria for us to name it.”
The last Met Office named storm was Callum, which battered South Wales in mid-October. The next name to be used will be Deirdre.
The forecast for tomorrow is for brighter weather but colder and with blustery showers. Winds will be less strong into the weekend but more rain or showers are likely at times.