Wind warning for southern and south west England

The Met Office has issued a wind warning for tomorrow and Saturday for southern and south west England as a deep low pressure system hits the UK

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A National Severe Weather Warning for wind has been issued for tomorrow and Saturday across southern and south west England and southern parts of Wales.

It comes as a deep low pressure system reaches the UK from the Atlantic.

The Met Office said isolated gusts of 70 mph could affect windward coastal areas.

The most likely scenario is for inland locations to see a relatively short period of 40-50 mph gusts.

Windward coastal areas will see a longer period of 50 to 60 mph gusts with isolated gusts to 70 mph.

Chief Meteorologist, Frank Saunders, said this period of wet and windy weather is “nothing outside the bounds of normal winter weather”.

The Met Office is warning that some travel disruption is also possible, and heavy rain may also bring surface water issues to parts of southwest England and south Wales.

As of 09.00 GMT on 3 February 2017, the Environment Agency had issued 46 flood alerts and four flood warnings.

RAC Traffic Watch spokesman Rod Dennis said that anyone travelling a serious distance in the south of the UK and driving on more exposed routes should expect strong, gusty winds on tomorrow.

“Reduce your speed, be extra vigilant of other road users and be particularly careful when overtaking high-sided vehicles, as you can buffeted off course,” he stressed.

“Standing water also represents a serious risk to drivers. The golden rule is if you don’t know how deep the water is, do not attempt to drive through it. Where possible we recommend avoiding pools of water on the road altogether to cut the risk of aquaplaning,” stressed Dennis

“Modern vehicles are better equipped to deal with bad weather than ever before, but they are still by no means water proof,” he stressed.

“You are risking expensive damage, and putting yourself and passengers at risk, if you drive into water that is of an unknown depth,” added Dennis.

Although it’s not unusual to see vigorous low pressure systems moving across the country at this time of year, so far this winter there have been relatively few of them, especially when compared to last winter.