UK braces for travel disruption as Storm Diana intensifies
Travellers are being warned of more travel disruption on Wednesday and Thursday as Storm Diana hits the UK.
The warning follows problems on Tuesday when train and airline passengers faced disruption because of heavy fog, with hundreds of flights cancelled on Tuesday because of poor visibility.
Thick fog grounded 60 flights at Heathrow on Tuesday morning with a further 380 delayed by 15 minutes. London City saw 62 cancellations and 46 delays. Gatwick reported no cancellations, but over 170 flights were delayed, according to FlightStats.
Forecasters say Storm Diana is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, bringing a ‘major change’ in weather, with wind gusts of 60-70 miles per hour to northern and western areas, as well as heavy rain.
Further weather warnings are in place for Thursday with unsettled weather and gusts of up to 80mph towards the Irish Sea.
The Met said: "We can expect gusts of 60mph and in the most exposed westerly places along the western coast from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands could see gusts of up to 70mph.
"The rain warning applies to Scotland and the eastern central Scotland, where up to 50mm is expected to fall in localised areas.
"The rain warning is not as widely distributed as the wind warning. The wind is the major thing to look out for."
Yellow weather warnings are in place in north east Scotland on Wednesday for rain and wind, with delays to public transport likely traffic chaos in exposed areas.
The Met added: "These winds will also bring rough seas and some large waves, potentially causing coastal impacts too.
"The unsettled picture is expected to continue through Thursday across much of the UK, but there is the potential for a narrow swathe of very strong winds to affect some parts of England and Wales early in the day.
"Due to uncertainties in the forecast regarding the focus of the strongest winds, we encourage you to keep in touch with Met Office forecasts and warnings over the next few days so you can be prepared for the weather as it changes."
Disruptive weather is also expected to cause problems across Europe with heavy snow showers in eastern countries and gale force winds in the north-west side of the Med.
Forecaster Darren Betts said: "As the windy and wet weather will arrive in Scandinavia we will see not only heavy rain but some heavy snowfall too.
"The wet weather moving away from the Balkans and heading towards Turkey could bring some disruption here as well."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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