After days of the UK being battered by heavy rainfall and strong winds thanks to Storm Darragh, latest weather maps forecasted a rare phenomenon in the coming week due to an icy blast
Brits are expected to be hit with a rare weather phenomenon just days after it was battered by strong winds and rainfall.
The United Kingdom, including Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland felt the full force of Storm Darragh over the weekend, with two people tragically being confirmed dead on Saturday. The Met Office issued a rarely seen red warning for parts of the south west of England as people were told to stay at home as there was a “danger to life”.
Weather maps have now suggested people should expect “freezing rain”, which is not common at all. It is expected to hit next weekend, with the north getting most of the bad weather, according to Ventusky weather maps. The north east of Scotland, from Aberdeen down to Scotland is expected to be hit by the rare weather.
At the same time, snow was forecasted to fall in the most northern parts of the UK, the weather maps showed. There could be a few millimetres of snow per hour falling everywhere between Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Freezing rain is a rare type of liquid precipitation that strikes a cold surface, and freezes almost instantly, according to the Met Office. It said: “The conditions needed for freezing rain are quite specific and we don’t see this phenomenon very often in the UK. It can produce striking effects, as the rain drop spreads out momentarily across the surface before it freezes, encasing the surface in a layer of clear ice.
“The weight of the ice can sometimes be heavy enough to bring down trees and power lines, and the glaze of ice on the ground effectively turns roads and pathways into an ice rink.”
At the end of last week, through the weekend, Storm Darragh saw gusts reaching 93mph and images show its full force and devastation and now snow is expected to hit due to the cold blast. Tragically two people died, while tens of thousands were left without power and there was transport chaos. West Midlands Police said the latest victim was killed when a tree fell and hit his car on Silver Birch Road, Erdington, on Saturday afternoon. Earlier in the day, a man died after a tree fell onto his van in Lancashire. The man, in his 40s, was driving his Citroen vehicle on the A59 at Longton, near Preston, at about 9am in the morning.
The Government’s “risk to life” alert came into effect at 1am on Saturday and was sent to people within the area covered by the Met Office’s rare red warning for wind in parts of Wales and south-west England. It was the largest use of the warning system yet, with the alert urging residents to avoid driving and to “stay indoors if you can”.
Wind speeds reached 93mph overnight in Capel Curig in North Wales, while gusts hit 92mph in Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula. In other parts of Wales, Northern Ireland and south-west England, gusts topped 80mph.
Small businesses near the Bristol Channel in Somerset said tiles had flown off their buildings and they had faced delivery issues. Eleanor Sedgwick, 23, a front-of-house supervisor at Scarlett’s in Clevedon, said the cafe did not open on Saturday morning because it was “too big of a risk”.
Strong winds will continue to hamper the majority of the UK on Sunday but the worst of the storm has now passed eastwards as it heads to the Continent.
