Storm Barra: Met Office warns of strong winds and rain
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Scotland will find itself in the path of Storm Barra from the early hours of Tuesday, with most of the nation set to be affected by strong winds and snow. The Met Office has issued a series of yellow weather warnings for both wind and snow scheduled to stay in place until midnight. Met Office forecaster Aidan McGivern said: “It doesn’t last long, the sunshine first thing, it soon starts to turn cloudy.
“The first of the rain and the wind arrive mid-morning, it turns very wet and windy indeed across southwestern Scotland.
“And it’s in the far southwest where the strongest winds are expected from the storm – 70mph, perhaps 80mph winds in some of the more exposed spots, 60mph gusts inland.
“These winds coming from the more typical direction for the UK compared to Storm Arwen so they’re likely to affect different places.
“It’s going to be cold as that wind sweeps in.”
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Mr McGivern continued: “Actually the north stays dry and bright throughout much of the day, it will be increasingly breezy and increasingly cloudy and it will feel cold as a result.
“But the rain and the hill snow doesn’t quite reach here until later. But there will be a spell of significant hill snow and even some snow at lower levels for a time through the Central Belt.
“But really, the disruptive snow is above 200m, 2-5cm accumulating, and 10 to 20cm in some of the higher parts of the Uplands and the Highlands, along with gale-force winds.
“We’re likely to see blizzards in places and drifting snow. Given the M74, the M8, some of the higher parts of these motorways do go above 200m, those disruptive snowfalls could affect those busy motorways.”
BBC Weather: Carol Kirkwood warns of 10cm of snow
The west of Ireland will receive the worst of the storm but yellow wind weather warnings are in place across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Storm Barra has awakened fears more homes could be left without power as areas of the country are still struggling to be reconnected to the grid after Storm Arwen wreaked havoc across the north of England and Scotland last week
The Met Office has warned that gale-force winds of 45-50mph on Tuesday could make it more difficult for engineers to reconnect homes.
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Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) spokesman Stephen Dixon said that winds will “gradually weaken” as they move east and should have petered out by Thursday.
A spokesperson for the ENA said that operators were “working together” to prepare for the storm.
“Energy network operators are working together to prepare for the developing Storm Barra,” he said.
“We’re monitoring forecasts regularly, coordinating response plans, and preparing to share resources if required.”
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