Met Office weather warnings remain in place after deadly Storm Goretti
More snow, ice, wind and rain will hit the UK as more weather warnings come into force across the country in the wake of deadly Storm Goretti.
Britons continue to face severe winter conditions after the latest storm brought winds of almost 100mph and issued a rare red warning for “dangerous, gusty” winds in the South West, where a man was killed.
Although the worst of the storm has receded, the Met Office has issued a number of weather warnings across northern England and Scotland throughout Sunday; It warned of up to 20cm of snow, up to 110mm of rain and winds of up to 70mph; The two warnings continued into Monday morning.
A yellow snow and ice warning, covering areas in the North East and North West, Scotland and North Yorkshire until 2pm, came into force from 2am on Sunday. Here the Met Office warned that 2 to 5cm of snow was likely to fall before it turned to rain, and up to 20cm could fall above 200m elevation.
In south-west Scotland, there is a yellow rain warning for Lothian Border and Strathclyde until the end of Sunday.
Another rain warning covers north-eastern parts of Scotland until 10am on Monday morning, with up to 110mm of rain possible in parts of Skye, Lochaber, Argyll and the Trossachs, the forecaster said.
A yellow wind warning is in place for north-west Scotland, which could see wind gusts of up to 85 mph until 8am on Monday.
A yellow wind warning has also been issued for the Orkney and Shetland islands until 15:00 on Sunday.
The Met Office has advised people in areas covered by the warnings to be prepared for delayed journeys, potentially dangerous driving conditions and to take extra time to avoid slips and falls on ice.
Meteorology has lifted the yellow warning for snow in Scotland and the rain warning in Northern Ireland.
Other warnings came after a tree fell on a caravan in Helston, Cornwall, on Thursday evening, killing a man in his 50s; Emergency services said removal efforts continued until Friday.
As of Sunday afternoon, thousands of properties were still without power in the wake of the storm, according to National Grid’s website, while National Rail warned rail travel could be disrupted until Monday
A government minister said it was “completely unacceptable” that people in several areas in the South East and South West were experiencing cold weather and water supply problems following the storm.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Mary Creagh said she was chairing a meeting with water companies and “local resilience forums” aimed at repairing supplies as quickly as possible “while prioritizing vulnerable customers and essential public services”.
South East Water said on its website that customers in East Grinstead, West Sussex and surrounding areas were experiencing “water shortages, intermittent supply or low pressure” from Saturday morning, and despite work being done to resolve this issue, the company “does not expect this situation to improve by the end of the weekend”.
In Cornwall, South West Water said on Saturday morning that six major water mains in the Helston area had been damaged by Storm Goretti, which continues to impact customers’ water supplies. Stating that repair work is continuing, the company added that it has supplied materials to more than half of those affected.
A new weather system is expected to bring milder conditions and rain during a “complex transition” from Storm Goretti, Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said.
He added: “Milder weather will eventually prevail this time, heralding very different weather for us all as we head into next week, but it will be quite a mixed transition.”
He added that Sunday was expected to be “wet and windy” in the southern half of the UK, but winds were “not as strong as they were for Goretti”.
But some storms could still hit coastal areas, Mr. Snell said, adding that this was not unusual at this time of year.
The forecaster said next week Britain will face “unstable” conditions but will “say goodbye to really cold weather” with temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees expected in the south and around 6-8 degrees in the north.
