High winds to sweep through Britain as gales return

After strong winds overnight across most of the country, speeds of between 50mph and 70mph are forecast for the rest of Thursday, with the north of Wales expected to see the highest speeds. The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for the North West, where 93 mile an hour winds were recorded overnight and for south west Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

A woman and a 10 year old boy were taken to hospital on Thursday morning, after a tree crashed onto their car in the Hertfordshire village of Shenley.

North Yorkshire police advised motorists to only make essential journeys as the whole country experiences “severe” weather. Further south, the Dartford Crossing’s QEII bridge is closed for the second time this week, causing delays on the M25.

Aisling Creevey, a forecaster with the weather division of the Press Association, said: It’s going to be a very windy day. We have a cold front sweeping down across northern Britain that’s going to clear south through the morning. There will be wind gusts of between 60 and 70mph across northern Britain, Wales and south-west England, with gusts of up to 80mph in exposed areas of Scotland and northern England.”

Britain under storm: gallery

Channel 4 News’ Weather presenter Liam Dutton on what to expect next week

The latest bout of stormy weather brought damaging gusts of wind across the UK through Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. Gusts of 55-70mph were reported widely, with High Bradfield, just outside Sheffield in South Yorkshire recording the strongest gust of 93mph.

The winds will continue to ease down during Thursday and although brisk winds may return at times for the rest of this week, they are unlikely to be on the scale of what has occurred over the past few days. Next week, the weather will become somewhat quieter as high pressure builds across the UK.

Train disruptions

The high winds, which come after only a day of respite, caused disruption to rail services across the country, hitting rush hour services.

Several commuter services in and around Glasgow were suspended and the West Highland Line between Glasgow and Mallaig was replaced with a bus service. There were delays to trains near Manchester, as well as on Chiltern Railways, where trees were down on the line between London and Aylesbury. London Midland services around Stratford-upon-Avon were also delayed.

In the north, there were problems with overhead wires between Penrith and Oxenholme in the north Lakes and delays between Carlisle and Lancaster.

Police across the UK have reported fallen trees blocking roads, including in the Hull area, east Yorkshire, eastern Cheshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex.

The Humber Bridge and the M62 over the Ouse Bridge, are both closed to high-sided vehicles.

One of the men who died in Tuesday’s high winds was named by police as married father of three Christopher Hayes, 51, who was killed when a tree crushed his parked van in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The second death was a crew member on board a tanker which was hit by a large wave off the coast of the south Devon/Cornwall border.