Easter weather: Winds of up to 65mph to batter parts of England

Storm Katie hasn't arrived yet - but expect a blustery weekend nevertheless

(Getty Images)

Parts of England will be in for a blustery Easter after warnings they are set to be battered of up to 65 mph.

The Met Office has issued a “yellow warning” for the south of England over Easter Saturday, with forecasts of heavy rain and gusts of up to 55mph inland and up to 65mph on the coast.

A spokeswoman for the weather agency told The Independent they were urging people to “be prepared” but conditions had not be upgraded to a named storm.

Last year, the Met Office invited the public to begin choosing the names of major storms to increase awareness about “major weather threats”.

The next name on the list is “Storm Katie”, after “Storm Jake” hit earlier this month.

The spokeswoman said it was possible the storm could be upgraded depending on how the weather system moved across the UK but that the naming system was predominantly focused on the impact, rather than the speed, of the storm.

She said: “It depends on which areas it affects.

“It is calculated on wind speed but it is also depends very much so on population areas [and things like] power lines. It does depend where it tracks over the country on whether they will change it."

The agency has not yet put out warnings for Easter Monday but is still expecting strong winds on that day as well, she added.

Named storms like Storm Desmond caused havoc earlier this year when hundreds were forced out of their homes by flooding in the north of England and Scotland.

Following Storm Eva a few weeks later, Environment Agency chairman Sir Philip Dilley was forced to resign after it emerged he was on holiday in Barbados when it hit.