Storm Goretti causes mayhem across UK with hurricane-force winds and flights cancelled
Storm Goretti caused chaos around Britain, leading to flight cancellations, school closures and power outages as hurricane-force winds and heavy snowfall ravaged the UK.
The storm reached the UK on Thursday amid a rare Met Office red “danger to life” warning; Winds blew to the southwest at around 160 miles per hour and snow covered Scotland, the Midlands and Wales.
According to the Met Office, peak wind gusts of 99 mph were reported at St Marys in the Isles of Scilly; this was the highest since 1991, according to the Met Office; A weather station in Cornwall reported hurricane force gusts of 193 mph at 7.30pm on Thursday.
Around 150,000 households were also left without power following outages in the South West, Midlands and South Wales.
Cornwall Council leader Leigh Frost said the storm had caused “major disruption to parts of Cornwall, particularly roads, coastal areas and local infrastructure”.
Large pieces of the roof of the stand at the Cornish Pirates rugby club’s ground in Penzance were torn off due to strong winds.
The Met Office said on Friday morning that Storm Goretti “continues to cause problems” as a mix of rain, sleet and snow battered some areas.
There were widespread travel disruptions across the country on Friday. At least 69 flights scheduled to fly to and from Heathrow airport on Friday were canceled, possibly causing disruption to more than 9,000 passengers, according to the PA news agency.
East Midlands and Birmingham airports, which were closed due to snow, reopened their runways on Friday.
Nearly 250 schools, mostly in Scotland, remained closed on Friday as authorities dealt with increasing snow and ice, fallen trees and debris, while major roads were also closed in Cornwall and Scotland in the north of England.
Disruptions on the roads also affected the criminal justice system; Remand prisoners were not transferred to Birmingham Crown Court.
National Rail said train services across England, Wales and Scotland could be affected by weather conditions until the end of Friday.
Forecasters recorded 15cm of snow at Lake Vyrnwy in Powys, 7cm at Preston Montford in Shropshire and 7cm at Nottingham.
In Scotland, significant snow accumulations continued on Friday with 27cm at Altnaharra in Sutherland, 26cm at Loch Glascarnoch and 22cm at Durris in Kincardineshire.
Met Office chief forecaster Steve Willington said more snow could fall on Sunday after a “largely dry” Saturday in Scotland and the north-east of England.
A yellow warning for snow and ice will be in effect across much of Scotland from 2am to 3pm on Sunday.
Mr Willington said: “A further 2-5cm of snow accumulation is possible at lower levels in the warning area on Sunday, with a further 10-20cm possible at higher elevations. “As the majority of this rainfall is in areas that have already seen heavy snowfall, disruption is likely to continue.
“Those in central and southern England and Wales will see rain this autumn, with a wet Sunday for many.”
Much of the UK will remain under yellow weather warnings until Saturday.
A yellow warning for snow and ice will be in force until 3pm on Saturday, with further snowfall likely across parts of northern England and much of Scotland, while the risk of widespread ice is expected to cause disruption.
A separate yellow warning for ice will cover much of England and Wales until midday on Saturday as melted snow refreezes. Forecasters say this will be accompanied by wintry showers and freezing fog.
Snow and ice warning covers the whole of Northern Ireland until 11am on Saturday; The Met Office warns of snow on icy areas and some hills.
A yellow warning covering most of Scotland, the East and West Midlands, north-east and north-west England and Yorkshire will then be in force from 2am to 3pm on Sunday.
Forecasters also warned that melting snow and rain would increase the risk of flooding for some people in the coming days.
