Storm Goretti brings 99mph winds and snow as 65,000 properties lose power

Storm Goretti brought 159kph winds and heavy snowfall to the UK, leaving tens of thousands of people without power.

The rare red weather warning issued by the Met Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has ended, but a yellow warning for snow remains in place for the West Midlands, Wales, Gloucestershire and parts of Yorkshire.

Authorities in the Midlands are bracing for the “worst snowfall in a decade” with 30cm (11in) of rainfall expected and travel disruption expected in the morning.

According to National Grid’s website, more than 46,400 properties in south-west England are without electricity; A further 14,000 properties in the West Midlands and 1,250 in Wales are without electricity.

Passengers were asked to complete their journey before the storm arrived. Widespread disruptions to the roads and rail network are expected until Friday.

A red wind warning for Cornwall started at 16:00 BST and ended at 23:00. The Met Office said “exceptionally strong winds” were likely to damage buildings and homes.

These damaging winds were expected to spread across Cornwall, the Channel Islands and parts of northern France on Thursday evening.

The Met Office said wind gusts of 99 miles per hour were reached at St Mary’s Airport on the Isles of Scilly.

Two emergency alerts were sent to the mobile phones of nearly 500,000 people in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to warn them of dangerous conditions.

The far south-west of Wales and other parts of southern England would also experience strong winds of 50-60 miles per hour but were not included in the red warning.

The Channel Islands were expected to experience “even stronger winds”. A major incident was declared in Jersey, where the meteorological agency also issued a red warning.

Rain began to turn to snow at higher elevations in Wales, as snow fell around Libanus, 272 m (890 ft) above sea level. It will be a fairly slow process, but over the next few hours more parts of Wales, the Midlands and the Peak District will see devastating snowfall where snowplows and sandblasters will struggle to maintain snow rates of 4cm per hour; There is likely to be disruption in transportation.

It may turn to rain later in the night in the Midlands as snow conditions gradually ease. Snow will remain longest in Wales and the Peak District, with 20-30cm in places. This will make some roads impassable and cut off some communities, badly affecting transportation. There may also be some power outages.

There are also yellow warnings for parts of Scotland, Wales and England covered by rain, wind, snow and ice.

Storm Goretti, named by French forecasters, is currently developing rapidly in the Atlantic, with a huge shield of clouds currently covering much of Northern Ireland, England and Wales.

The storm is likely to undergo “explosive cyclogenesis” or “weather bombing”; This term is used when central pressure drops by as much as one millibar (mb) per hour over a 24-hour period, often resulting in particularly strong winds over a period of several hours.

While an avalanche warning was issued for Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, in Wales, local authorities in the West Midlands said there was an avalanche danger. We’re bracing for potentially the worst snowfall in 10 years.

Heavy rain may also cause localized flooding in parts of south-west Wales and eastern England.

The snow and rain will begin to ease Friday morning, but some travel disruption to the morning commute is likely due to snow on the ground.

Rail passengers were advised to check their journeys before traveling on Thursday and Friday. National Rail services are likely to be suspended or interrupted.

In the south-west, all trains in Cornwall were suspended without replacement after 6pm, while some services were also canceled in Devon.

East Midlands Railway does not operate a service between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield on Thursday evening and all day on Friday. Replacement buses will not operate.

Experts urged drivers to heed snow and ice warnings and avoid driving from Thursday evening until Friday, while the AA said wintry conditions could “reduce visibility within seconds”.

A man told the BBC that he and his wife were driving “very carefully” on the A887 towards Edinburgh when a tree suddenly fell on their car.

“It was pretty incredible,” Gerard Cairney said, adding that it “bounced” off the hood of the tree. He managed to get off the road avoiding any serious damage other than some minor scratches to the paint.

Meanwhile, Birmingham Airport suspended the use of the runway due to heavy snowfall. Passengers are advised to contact their airline regarding the status of their flights.

Meanwhile, some schools are expected to close on Friday, while dozens in the Midlands and Wales have announced they will not open in the yellow weather warning zone.

Almost 100 schools in Cornwall closed early on Thursday ahead of the storm’s arrival.

More than 250 schools in Scotland will remain closed on Friday, meaning many pupils have not yet returned from the holiday break.

Owners of 14 cliff-top homes in Norfolk told not staying at home on Thursday due to the risk of cliff falls in stormy weather. They were warned that their homes were in danger of collapse and would need to be demolished.

A maximum red warning for wind will be issued in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly until 11pm on Thursday.

A heavy snowfall warning is issued in the following regions until 09:00 on Friday:

• midlands
• Wales
• South West England
• Yorkshire and the Humber

Yellow weather warnings for snow, ice and rain apply to the following areas:

• Shetland Islands (snow) Thursday 16:00 – 20:00
• Midlands, Yorkshire, Wales, North West and South West England, North East England, East England, South East England (snow) – until noon on Friday
• Lincolnshire and parts of Eastern England including Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Peterborough and Suffolk (rain) – until 21:00 Friday
• South East England, Wales and South West England (wind) – until 06:00 on Friday
• Northern Ireland (ice) Friday 00:00 – 11:00

Last week, an eruption in the Arctic dropped temperatures 4 to 10C below the January average.

The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) has issued yellow cold health warnings for England, lasting until Monday.

Low temperatures have already been triggered government cold weather payments In at least 697 postcodes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This means more than one million households will receive money.