Met Office forecaster, Marco Petagna, said: “We’ve seen some pretty severe gusts overnight with the highest speeds hitting 98mph at Brizlee Wood in Northumberland. Elsewhere, exposed sites in Scotland and Northern Ireland also surpassed 90mph, with 70-80mph seen more widely in the north of the UK, though parts of southern England and Wales also felt the effects of the storm.
“This has been coupled with a few inches of snow which has fallen in some areas. In the higher ground areas of Scotland we expected to see up to 15cm falling but the strong winds meant the snow blew around and created a blizzard in some parts.”
On Saturday night ITV were forced to cancel the weekend’s episodes of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! after the show’s production base was damaged during stormy weather.
The celebrities are safe and in Gwrych Castle in North Wales, but the production base suffered significant damage as Storm Arwen battered the area on Friday night.
Is transport disrupted?
Train networks across the UK reported disruption to services. ScotRail services were disrupted between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street, Dunblane and Stirling after a barn was blown on to the line close to Polmont, near Falkirk.
TransPennine Express customers were urged not to travel, with services between Newcastle and Edinburgh cancelled. South Western Railway also predicted disruption on Saturday due to “multiple trees and obstructions blocking the railway”, while London North East Railway warned customers not to travel north of York due to “significant damage”.
Dorset Council said trees and power cables had fallen on roads in the area, while road closures were reported more widely in the worst-affected parts of northern England and Scotland.
The M26 near Rochdale was forced to close after at least 120 lorries became stuck in the snow and one vehicle overturned, causing severe disruption. Snow ploughs have since been deployed to help clear the roads. And Snake Pass in Derbyshire, one of the UK’s bleakest mountain roads, saw lines of empty cars today after motorists were forced to abandon their vehicles as blizzards swept the road through the Pennines last night.
Are there power cuts?
Homes across the UK were damaged as the gusts struck. Northern Powergrid said severe gales caused power cuts for more than 55,000 customers, mainly in the Northumberland, County Durham and Tyne and Wear areas.
A number of councils in Scotland also reported power cuts, whilst Electricity North West responded to a high number of cuts affecting thousands of properties in Cumbria and Lancashire.
