Irish storm set to batter the Cumbrian coast tonight

Storm Betty is set to bring strong winds and trigger heavy rain on Friday in the second named storm in August.

Met Eireann have named the storm as a low-pressure system which is also triggering warnings in Cumbria and rest of the UK.

Storm Betty is to hit the Republic of Ireland, before it moves from the south of Ireland to the north on Friday and into Saturday, the forecasters say.

Met Office chief meteorologist Jason Kelly said: "Friday and Saturday will see unseasonably wet and windy conditions for much of the UK.

"While Storm Betty will have higher impacts in Ireland, exposed Irish Sea coasts of the UK could see gusts in excess of 70mph, with around 50mph more widely.

"Storm Betty is also bringing some large accumulations of rainfall for the time of year, with some spots of Northern Ireland seeing around 80mm of rain, though between 15-25mm is expected more widely. Parts of Scotland could see similarly high accumulations, especially over higher ground."

Betty is the second storm named in August, following Storm Antoni which occurred earlier this month.

This is the second time since storm naming was introduced in 2015 that two storms have been named in August, following Ellen and Francis in August 2020.

A Met Office yellow thunderstorm warning, covering London and the South-East, East Midlands and east of England from 8pm on Friday to 5am on Saturday, said people could face possible flooding and disruption on Friday night.

Heavy and thundery rain will spread across many parts of the UK on Friday night with the potential for some large hail, especially in East Anglia, Kent and East Sussex.

A yellow weather warning for wind, from Friday at 6pm to noon on Saturday, said people should be aware that the very strong and gusty winds, associated with Storm Betty, could bring some disruption to transport, travel and temporary infrastructure.

It covers north-west England, Northern Ireland, south-west Scotland, Lothian Borders, south-west England and Wales.

It states: "Storm Betty is expected to bring a swathe of very strong and gusty winds to the Isles of Scilly early Friday evening, quickly transferring north across many western parts of the UK overnight and into Saturday morning. Strongest winds will be along south to south-west-facing coasts where gusts of 60-70mph are possible, whilst gusts of 45-55 mph are possible elsewhere."

The Met Office has also issued yellow weather warnings for rain in Northern Ireland from Friday at 9pm through to Saturday at 6am.

There is also a yellow weather warning for rain is also in place from 3am to noon on Saturday for Central, Tayside & Fife, Grampian, south-west Scotland, Lothian Borders and Strathclyde.

Mr Kelly added: "While many within the thunderstorm warning areas may see relatively little rainfall, there is the potential for a few places to see around 20-40mm of rain within an hour, and possibly around 40-60mm over three hours.

"Large hail and frequent lightning are additional hazards for the likely overnight thunderstorms in eastern areas of England."

Storm Betty's arrival on Friday through to Saturday morning may bring "quite intense thunderstorm activity with associated impacts of hail, intense rain and lightning strikes", according to Met Office spokesman Graham Madge.

He added: "In addition, the way the winds are circulating around Storm Betty in an anti-clockwise direction is encouraging warm air from the continent to be filtered in to parts of the south and east of England and that warm air will be quite humid.

"This will be a trigger for quite intense thunderstorm activity anywhere from Hampshire, Dorset, north and east London, east Anglia and east Midlands."

It is expected that by Saturday morning "all of those weather systems, at least for the southern part of the UK will calm right down" but Scotland "will still be impacted by Storm Betty to some extent bringing reasonably strong winds and heavy rain for some", he added. Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.