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Met Office warn of 'multiple hazard event' as Storm Bert to bring snow, ice, heavy rain and strong winds to the UK
New national severe weather warnings have been issued for the weekend by the Met Office as Storm Bert has begun to make an impact with snow closing roads and strong rains and winds expected to cause further travel disruption and potential flooding.
Weather warnings and 16 flood alerts have come into effect across the UK, as the Met Office described the forecasted weather as a “multiple hazard event” due to Storm Bert binging with it snow, ice, heavy rain and gale force winds.
Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said:
We’ll see two to four hours of heavy snow across parts of northern England and Scotland during Saturday morning. This snow will accumulate thick and fast, with five to 10cm at lower levels and as much as 20 to 40cm over hills accompanied by strong winds.
You can expect blizzards over hills across northern England and Scotland, atrocious conditions for travelling and going over the hills and also the risk of power interruptions because of snow build up on power lines.
So all in all, a multiple hazard event as we go into Saturday morning.”
The PA news agency reports that rail companies urged passengers to avoid travelling to certain areas and some warned of reduced services while National Highways issued a “severe weather alert” for snow affecting Yorkshire and north-east England between 5am and 3pm on Saturday.
In Yorkshire, the A628 remained closed overnight in both directions, while ferry operator CalMac – which serves the west coast of Scotland – has cancelled several sailings on Saturday with disruption expected on many other services.
McGivern also stressed that temperatures will rise quickly as the storm brings with it milder air from the Atlantic, resulting in a “rapid thaw” by the afternoon.
The meteorologist said:
The melting snow and the heavy rain could lead to localised flooding in places but the wettest spots would be Wales, in the south-west, particularly over south-facing hills, that’s where we’re likely to see gales and certainly the risk of impacts from wind as well as from rain.”
