Storm Kathleen: Met Office issues yellow weather warning as forecasters warns of high winds and 'danger to life'

The Met Office has officially named Storm Kathleen, with warnings that high winds are set to rattle parts of the UK.

New yellow weather warnings have been issued by the weather service for Saturday, April 6, when the worst of the weather is set to hit. The alter is in place for all of Northern Ireland, the entire western coasts of England and Wales, and western and central parts of Scotland.

Gusts of up to 60mph to 70mph in exposed areas along the west coast of England and Scotland on Saturday, and 50mph more widely. In its weather warning, due to last from 8am on Saturday until 10pm the same day, the Met Office said: “There is a small chance of longer, or even cancelled journeys, as road, rail, air and ferry services are affected. There is a small chance that some roads and bridges could close or impose restrictions

“There is a slight chance that power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage. There is a small chance that injuries and danger to life could occur from large waves and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts, coastal roads and properties.”

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There are also yellow weather warnings for rain and snow in the early hours of Friday, April 5 in Scotland. A rain warning covers central Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, while snow is expected overnight in the Highlands.

Storm Kathleen is only the second time in a UK storm season (between start of September to the end of the following August) that the storm name has reached the letter ‘K’. The only other time in which a storm was named with a ‘K’ moniker was in 2016, when Storm Katie hit the country.

Despite the high winds and possible rain, temperatures are set to be fairly mild. Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “There is a good chance we could see highs of 20C which would be the first time we have seen 20C this year.” He added: “There will be some wet weather around, could be quite heavy at times, but there are also some signs of something a little bit drier coming up later on. For the time being though, low pressure is in control as we go through the next few days, various areas of low pressure pushing their way across, bringing spells of wet weather and some blustery conditions too. As we head towards Friday though, we have an area of low pressure pushing towards us and this feature has actually been named Storm Olivia by the Portuguese Met service. It is going to bring some blustery, showery weather across parts of the UK.”