Met Office urges Reading & Leeds festivalgoers to 'secure your tents' as Storm Lilian sweeps in over bank holiday weekend

Thousands of music lovers are set to descend on the Reading & Leeds campsites this weekend as acts such as Lana Del Rey, Blink-182 and Liam Gallagher take to the stage. However, it won’t quite be the summery weather some areas have seen already this month, with the ill-timed Storm Lilian set to wreak havoc on festival plans.

The storm is expected to surge through northern parts of England and Wales, with possible gusts of up 80mph sweeping through some areas. The Met Office has warned of power cuts, travel disruption, flooding and dangerous condition in coastal areas.

Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said: “The strongest winds are likely to start forming through the early hours initially across parts of north Wales into the Liverpool, Blackpool area, and then crossing over the Pennines and into the east and north-east England – Yorkshire, up to Northumberland before then clearing out into the North Sea. So it’s really quite quick.”

In a stark warning to Leeds festival attendees in particular, Mr Dewhurst added: “The wind will pick up in that area through the night, particularly strongest towards dawn and then first thing in the morning, before then easing through the morning.

“So there could be potentially some impacts from those strong winds, of 50 to 60mph in the area so it’s worth making sure your tents are secured. There could also be disruption first thing to the transport networks for those travelling first thing.”

There has already been affects on transport, with National Highways warning that the M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire has been closed in both directions between J1 (Aust) and J2 (Chepstow) due to the strong winds. Drivers have been advised to use the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge as an alternative route.

The Met Office previously introduced two yellow weather warnings for rain in south-west Scotland and further into the north-east in Aberdeenshire, which have been place since 9pm on Thursday (August 22) and expire 9am on Friday (August 23). A yellow wind warning is also in place over northern England and North Wales until 11am on Friday.

The poor weather has already affected some events, with an outdoor New Order gig which had been set to take place in Cardiff in Thursday evening being cancelled. Organisers said that the cancellation was due to “severe winds”.