A wet and windy week for the UK

Rough seas batter the coast of northwest England as stormy weather sweeps in from the North Atlantic [ATP]

Weather warnings have been issued right across the UK with the exception of the Northern Isles of Scotland and the far east of England. Indeed, the UK Met Office expects this week to be one of the stormiest periods of weather here for several years.

The wild weather got under way on Monday evening as strong winds, heavy rain and hill snow swept in from the Atlantic. At one stage, part of the Tamar Bridge between Devon and Cornwall was closed because of the strong winds, but it has now reopened.

The wind was the most damaging feature of this latest spell of disturbed weather. Exposed parts of Wales and southwest England were hardest hit, as winds touched 115 kph. Mumbles in Swansea Bay recorded a gust of 111kph at 0300 GMT. However, even southeast England had some very lively winds. Stansted in Essex saw winds reaching 82kph, while Weybourne in Norfolk peaked at 92kph.

Those strong and gusty winds were accompanied by some very heavy rain, especially over the higher ground. Boscome Down on Salisbury Plain had almost 40mm of rain in the 24 hours up to 0600 GMT. Elsewhere, there was some snow on the hills of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the East Midlands.

The worst of the weather has eased for now, but it will remain unsettled all week with even more disruptive weather piling in from the west by Thursday night. There is the potential for another bout of severe weather including heavy rain, hill snow and damaging winds in excess of 120kph to sweep across Great Britain and Ireland.

The weather is expected to settle down over the weekend, but ahead of that, much of northwest Europe could experience a spell of widespread disruption. There could be some structural damage and travel delays seem inevitable.