Storm Amy hits UK with heavy rain and strong winds

Storm Amy has swept into the UK, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to large parts of the country.

An amber wind warning remains in place for parts of northern and western Scotland, where a gust of 96 mph was recorded overnight, and the Met Office is warning of power cuts and flying debris that could endanger life.

A lower level yellow warning for winds has been issued for the rest of the UK until Saturday evening.

A man in his 40s died in the Republic of Ireland on Friday in what police described as a “weather-related incident”.

Parts of Northern Ireland were under an amber wind warning earlier on Friday, and hundreds of schools closed early as a precaution.

On Friday night a gust of 96mph was recorded in Tiree on the Inner Hebrides, while Northern Ireland recorded its highest October gust on record, with 92mph at Migilligan, County Londonderry.

Storm Amy is currently moving away from Northern Scotland, taking the most powerful winds with it.

However, a Met Office amber warning will remain in place across northern Scotland until 21:00 BST on Saturday.

Gusts of 60-70mph are forecast with occasional gusts of up to 85mph also possible, so some damage and disruption is still likely throughout Saturday.

Elsewhere across the UK yellow warnings for wind are in force until 19:00, where wind gusts will widely be up to 45-55mph, occasionally up to 65mph in more exposed areas.

Even these wind speeds have the potential to bring down tree debris and possibly whole trees, leading to power cuts and travel disruption.

Heavy rain will continue at times across northern and western Scotland.

While a band of heavy rain moves south across England and Wales, this will weaken, followed by sunny spells and blustery heavy showers.

Storm Amy also set a new record for the deepest area of low pressure in the UK for October.

The earth’s atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface and is measured in hectoPascals (hPa), also called millibars.

Storm Amy showed central pressure of 947.9hPa at Baltasound, Shetland. This exceeds the previous record of 950.9hPa in 1988.

In an area of low pressure the weather is often unsettled.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the rail network was suspended on Friday due to multiple trees falling, while airports warned passengers to check the status of their flight before flying.

Several ScotRail services and ferries were cancelled ahead of the storm’s arrival, while some bridges will be closed to high-sided vehicles.

And ScotRail said all services out of Glasgow Central have been suspended until at least 14:00 on Saturday.

By Sunday, Storm Amy will have moved further out into the North Sea so it will be drier with lighter winds for the second half of the weekend.

The next storm name will be Bram. A new list of names is issued every year by the Met Office before the season starts in September with both male and female names chosen by the public.

Storms can be named by either the Met Office, Met Éireann or the Dutch weather service KNMI when impacts are forecast to be “medium” to “high”.