This is a Met Office UK Weather forecast looking at Storm Éowyn, hitting the UK on 24/01/2025.
Storm Éowyn was named on Thursday morning and could bring disruption to parts of the UK on Sunday. Bringing you this special weather update is Aidan McGivern.
Storm Éowyn was named on Thursday morning and could bring disruption to parts of the UK on Sunday. Bringing you this special weather update is Aidan McGivern.
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00:00Storm Eowyn hits the UK and the Republic of Ireland on Friday the 24th of January
00:04and the Met Office have issued red warnings for Northern Ireland as well as
00:08parts of central and southwest Scotland. Now we don't issue red warnings lightly
00:12they are issued when there is a likely danger to life and severe disruption. In
00:17fact since these impact-based warnings were started back in 2011 Northern
00:23Ireland has never had a red warning before. The last red warning for Glasgow
00:27was back in 2012 so you can see how rare these red warnings are. In this
00:33video I want to break down what's happening with storm Eowyn, why it's
00:37deepening so quickly and the kinds of wind speeds we can expect as well as the
00:42impacts we can expect from wind but also from rain and snow and how you can
00:48prepare in order to stay safe. But first of all we've had some lively weather
00:53across the UK during Thursday and it's all because of this occluded front which
00:58has moved in from the west. It brought quite widespread heavy rain, thunder,
01:02lightning, hail as well as some very damaging wind gusts in parts of the
01:07southwest and it's now moving eastwards at the time of recording into the rest
01:11of the UK. That's not storm Eowyn but it does mark a transition to much more
01:18changeable in fact unsettled weather compared with the calmer conditions that
01:22we began the week. Now whilst we began the week with calm conditions there was
01:26an intense cold wave across North America which affected much of Canada,
01:31Central and Eastern US and we were flagging that this time last week
01:35because of the consequences it would have on the UK's weather and we are now
01:39seeing those consequences play out over the North Atlantic in the form of a
01:44strengthened jet stream. When we get large temperature contrasts it often
01:48adds fuel to the jet stream and as that cold wave pushed south across North
01:53America it clashed with warmer subtropical air and we saw that
01:56temperature contrast and we saw jet stream speeds in excess of 250 miles an
02:02hour. Those intense wind speeds way up in the troposphere well they can help to
02:09spin up areas of low pressure and deepen them and now we are seeing that play out
02:15for storm Eowyn. This is the chart for 7 a.m. Thursday the 23rd of January and if
02:23I just point out the central pressure there of storm Eowyn as it's beginning
02:28its intense deepening phase as it's moving on to the cold side of the jet
02:32stream that's where these low pressure systems can rapidly deepen it. It's got a
02:37central pressure at this point of 978 hectopascals or millibars but fast
02:43forwarding to Friday morning let's just rewind slightly to get a similar time
02:51just 24 hours ahead 7 a.m. and we can pinpoint the central pressure there of
02:57Eowyn just to the north of Northern Ireland at this point and in a 24 hour
03:02period it's gone down to 937 hectopascals so more than 40
03:08hectopascals or millibars deepening in 24 hours. Now in meteorological terms
03:14that's a rapid deepening of an area of low pressure when areas of low pressure
03:18deepen by 24 millibars in 24 hours it's called explosive cyclogenesis that is
03:25indeed clearly what we're seeing with storm Eowyn. In fact a central pressure
03:29of 937 just off the north coast of Northern Ireland well that threatens to
03:33break Northern Ireland's January low pressure record if that's a depth or
03:40similar is captured by a land station on Northern Ireland. Nevertheless you can
03:45see there at 7 a.m. on Friday that's the position of storm Eowyn it's moving to
03:52the north of Northern Ireland crossing Scotland and it's on the southern flank
03:56of that low where we're likely to see the very strongest of the winds. Note
04:01that the weather fronts associated with this storm are pushed ahead of the storm
04:05so initially we'll see a spell of strengthening winds and heavy rain but
04:09it's as that rain clears and indeed as the skies brighten behind the heavy
04:14rain that the strongest winds will arrive from the west and they'll move
04:19across this central swathe of the UK Northern Ireland into much of Scotland
04:22Northern England in particular as well as western coast seeing the highest wind
04:26gusts. So winds are going to be the key issue with storm Eowyn but it's not just
04:33winds the weather will also be very unsettled we'll see spells of heavy rain
04:38and in fact some hill snow. Now this is the picture at the time of recording
04:42Thursday afternoon and we're seeing that initial occluded front cross the country
04:46but as it clears through well actually the skies do tend to clear and apart
04:53from a few showers it will be a little calmer for a time that will allow
04:58temperatures to fall away so we'll see temperatures dipping on Thursday evening
05:03after dark close to freezing in places and as that cold air sits in place
05:08across eastern parts of the UK well we'll see storm Eowyn push its initial
05:14band of rain in from the west you can see the bright colors there across
05:17Ireland into Northern Ireland into Wales and the southwest by midnight and this
05:23is the point at which the winds really start to pick up so if you're wanting to
05:28prepare for this storm you need to do it on Thursday before nightfall because the
05:34winds are rapidly increasing overnight and as you can see that band of rain
05:39moves through 2 a.m. Friday a noisy night out there heavy rain strengthening winds
05:45and some hill snow coming through for parts of northern UK in particular north
05:51of the central belt as the band of rain bumps into the cold air and it's really
05:55above about 300 meters across the Highlands and the Grampians where we're
05:59likely to see the most significant snow coming through meanwhile the rest of the
06:03UK during the night time predominantly affected by the spell of heavy rain and
06:08that rain as well as some showery rain following likely to cause some impacts
06:13especially across west and southwestern parts of the UK where there's the risk
06:17of 25 millimeters widely and 60 millimeters over hills falling in around
06:23six hours a relatively short amount of time that could cause some issues yellow
06:27warnings have been issued for that aspect of the forecast yellow warnings
06:31have also been issued by the snow I'll show you more on that in just a moment
06:34but by rush hour the wettest of the weather is moving through but there
06:40follows this occluded front wrapping round into Western Scotland and Northern
06:45Ireland and it's on this feature where the very strongest way the winds is
06:50expected now that's going to affect Western parts of the Republic of Ireland
06:54during the early hours it's then going to move into Northern Ireland during
06:58rush hour and into central and southern Scotland a little later in the morning
07:02meanwhile the winds are very strong across the rest of the UK as well with
07:06the peak wind speeds likely across the south and southwest during the early
07:11morning but as the initial band of rain moves through we've got a lot of showers
07:16and longer spells of rain for Scotland and Northern Ireland with some hills
07:19though further rain or showers across southern parts but some brighter skies
07:24elsewhere and then the winds do calm down across southern parts of the UK
07:28later in the day the rain tends to ease and the worst of the winds are pushing
07:34north across northern Scotland just to show you a bit more detail on the snow
07:38fall and this graphic shows the six or the 12-hour snow totals across much of
07:47northern UK up to midday Friday so Friday morning snowfall now the snow
07:54across southern Scotland and northern England Northern Ireland confined to the
07:58highest peaks and likely to disappear quite quickly as milder air rushes in so
08:03it's really through this swathe of the Highlands the Grampians above 300 meters
08:07where there's the risk of 15 to 25 centimeters of snow building up that
08:12accompanied by very strong winds will make for some hazardous conditions
08:16across the mountains of Scotland so we've got the rain warning we've got the
08:20snow warnings but the main concern from storm Eowyn is of course the
08:27wind now this graphic shows the 24-hour maximum wind gusts so the highest wind
08:35gusts we're expecting throughout Thursday is on the map there with the
08:38key on the left and what you can see is that by the end of Thursday really we've
08:42got some very strong winds pushing into Ireland West Wales as well as the
08:47southwest but this is really towards the end of Thursday the worst of the winds
08:51then you can see just offshore across Ireland and then these are the 24-hour
08:56maximum wind gusts across the UK on Friday itself and what you can see is
09:03widely across England and Wales 50 to 60 mile-per-hour wind gusts but for some of
09:08these exposed parts of southern England West Wales into northern England a 70 or
09:1480 mile-per-hour wind gusts are likely however it's Scotland and Northern
09:18Ireland where the most powerful wind gusts are likely as well as of course
09:22the Republic of Ireland with 80 to 90 mile-per-hour wind gusts through central
09:28and southwestern parts as well as into Northern Ireland western parts of
09:32Northern Ireland and 100 mile-per-hour wind gusts that's the darkest color here
09:37possible in some of the most exposed locations so zooming on the map there
09:42and you can see exposed parts of southwest Scotland potentially funneling
09:50through the central belt there to give 80 or 90 mile-per-hour wind gusts and
09:54across Northern Ireland fairly widely 80-90 mile-per-hour wind gusts and then
09:58for some of these exposed coasts and hills particularly towards the north and
10:01the west that's where there's that risk of 100 mile-per-hour wind gusts so that
10:07gives you a summary of the speed of the wind on Friday moving to Saturday a much
10:13less disruptive picture across England Wales southern Scotland and Northern
10:18Ireland but during the first half of the day in particular on Saturday we've got
10:22potential for disruption across northern Scotland and we're talking 80 mile-per-hour
10:28wind gusts in the far north risk briefly of 90 as storm air wind moves away we're
10:36not out the woods either because by the time we get to early next week there's
10:40the risk of very strong winds as well across the south and southwest of the UK
10:47more on that in just a moment but going into a bit more detail in terms of the
10:52timings of the strongest winds and during the rest of Thursday the winds
11:02rapidly strengthen as you can see across Ireland into Northern Ireland by the
11:09early hours and it's this sway the very strong winds that moves in to bring the
11:15most disruption and potentially the most danger the strongest winds the 60
11:21potentially 70 mile-per-hour wind gusts across the south move through during the
11:26morning and then it's across northwestern parts of the UK where our
11:30attention is turned through Friday rush hour up until the middle of the day and
11:38as you can see Northern Ireland having a very tricky rush hour during Friday
11:44morning then into central and southern Scotland a little bit later in the
11:48morning for the time being northern Scotland less affected but those winds
11:54are moving north through the day so that by mid-afternoon the strongest the winds
11:59are pushing into northern Scotland and then away into Shetland Orkney and
12:05eventually moving moving along to affect Norway so it's no wonder that there are
12:12lots of warnings across the UK and these warnings are continually being
12:18updated and refined so I encourage you to stay up to date by heading to the
12:21Met Office website and app but here are things at the time of recording widely
12:26across the country we've got yellow warnings for wind now for parts of the
12:29west East Midlands East Anglia London and the southeast 50 to 60 mile-per-hour
12:34wind gusts are possible elsewhere across the UK we're talking about widely 60
12:38perhaps 70 or 80 mile-per-hour wind gusts in some of the most exposed
12:42locations but it's in the red warning area through the central belt southwest
12:47Scotland Northern Ireland where there is that risk of 80 to 90 mile-per-hour wind
12:52gusts widely and as much as a hundred mile-per-hour wind gusts in the most
12:57exposed locations now these are particularly dangerous wind speeds to
13:01put them into context it's possible that it'll be Northern Ireland's worst storm
13:06since the Boxing Day storm of 1998 and as I mentioned we haven't issued a red
13:10warning for places like Glasgow for some time as well so what can you do to
13:17keep yourself safe by the advice is particularly if you're in the red
13:21warning area or indeed the amber warning area there's the danger to life and that
13:27means that if you're if you've got travel plans it is worth certainly
13:31reconsidering them because it will be dangerous to travel in this weather
13:35we'll have falling trees flying debris as well stay at home if at all possible
13:40it's likely that bridges will be closed there'll be ferry air and rail
13:45cancellations and delays it's likely that will be power cuts so be prepared
13:51for power cuts grab yourself a mobile phone battery pack charger and torch
13:58batteries and all the stuff that you might need if there's a power cut and
14:04dangerous conditions around coast that's where the highest wind speeds
14:07will occur with the risk of very large waves some distance from the shore and
14:11it's worth bearing in mind that 44% of people who drown never intended to enter
14:16the water and it's in situations like this where coastal areas can be most
14:21hazardous flying debris again large waves on coastal routes and so on and
14:27finally stay up to date with Met Office weather warnings as well as all the
14:32advice from emergency services and local authorities now we're not through
14:36the woods as we go into the weekend there are further warnings in force
14:39amber and yellow for parts of Scotland and then further warnings on Sunday as
14:44well as another system arrives this system not likely to be as disruptive as
14:52storm Erwin as it moves in on Sunday it's a more mature low sitting further
14:57to the west of the UK but it is likely to bring a spell of wet and windy
15:01weather from Sunday morning and that although not as disruptive as storm
15:06Erwin or not as dangerous it is likely to hamper clear up efforts and likely to
15:12cause further issues but for now all the attention of course and the focus is on
15:18storm Erwin so stay up to date with the Met Office weather warnings and
15:23forecasts will keep it right here and stay safe
15:31you