UK weather: 66mph winds whip Wales as Storm Ellen hits UK

Unseasonably windy weather comes after intense heatwave last week

As Storm Ellen sweeps through Northern Ireland towards the west of the UK, strong gusts of up to 66 miles per hour were recorded in Wales in the early hours of Thursday morning and 89 miles per hour in Ireland earlier.

The Met Office said the strongest winds were experienced in Pembrey Sands in Wales, followed by the RAF Valley, Aberdaron and Mumbles Head, which all saw wind speeds of over 60 miles per hour.

The unseasonably strong winds brought down torrential rain, felling trees and affecting power lines overnight. Met Eireann named the storm Storm Ellen on Tuesday.

A yellow wind warning has been issued for Northern Ireland and the west of the UK for Thursday and extends to cover most of England on Friday.

The Met Office warns that damage to buildings may occur, such as tiles being blown from roofs, and “injuries and danger to life could occur from large waves and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts, coastal roads and properties”.

The Environment Agency has also issued 13 flood alerts around England and three red flood warnings, which are centred around the south-west of England.

People on camping holidays have been warned trees could easily come down as parts of the UK braces for winds of more than 70 miles per hour to hit.

Forecaster Luke Miall said Storm Ellen’s presence will be known “for the next couple of days” and is “not going to move through really quickly so we will continue to see a really big area of low pressure through the rest of this week”.

“We have gone from one extreme to the other, the first thing that springs to my mind with these sorts of events is climate change,” he added.

“We are likely to see these swings in extreme events more frequently. Although I couldn’t necessarily say these two events were directly caused by climate change, it’s likely that these sorts of swings in our weather will become more frequent.”

Additional reporting by PA