Storm Bert is set to batter the UK this weekend with 70mph winds, heavy rain and in some parts more snow.
The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings to start at 4am on Saturday until at least 9am on Sunday across western and northern England, Wales and Scotland, with amber alerts in parts of Scotland.
Storm Bert is the second name in the Met Office’s 2024/25 storm list, released in August, after Ashley, this season’s first storm, which wreaked havoc in October.
The list – first launched in 2015 – generally runs from early September until late August the following year, coinciding with the beginning of autumn
Other names that made this year’s list include James, Lewis, Mavis – allinspired by the Met Office’s 170-year history.
The forecaster said James is named after Group Captain James Stagg, who was the chief meteorologist responsible for advising General Dwight Eisenhower on the weather forecast for the D-Day landings.
Lewis comes from Lewis Fry Richardson, who devised a theory to use maths and physics to make weather forecasts using computers.
Mavis is named after Mavis Hinds, who worked on the earliest Met Office computers.
In the outgoing year, there were twelve named storms in alphabetical order.
It was the first time there were enough to get as far as the letter L, with Storm Lilian, so unless we have a particularly stormy year it’s unlikely we’ll get to see Storm Wren.
The UK Met Office works with the Irish Met Eireann in Ireland and Dutch weather service KNMI to pick the names.
Bert was put forward by KNMI after they asked the public to come up with names at an event.
When the list was launched in August, Will Lang, who leads severe weather responses for the Met Office, said: ‘This year, as we celebrate our 170th birthday, it’s great to be able to honour those who have had an impact on our long history of pioneering weather and climate science services.’
Although Storm Bert is expected to bring with it hazardous weather, Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Dan Holley said ‘marks a shift to much milder air and wintry hazards will gradually diminish through the weekend.’
However, he added, ‘Heavy snowfall is expected across parts of northern England and Scotland for a time on Saturday, especially over higher ground, and warnings are in place.
‘Heavy rain through Saturday and Sunday, especially in southern and western parts of the UK, will also bring impacts for some with a number of warnings in place.
‘We expect 50-75 mm of rainfall quite widely within the warning areas, but in excess of 100 mm is possible over high ground in parts of Wales and southwest England.’
‘In addition, rapid melting of lying snow over the weekend and periods of strong winds are likely to exacerbate impacts and bring the potential for travel disruption, as well as flooding for some.’
A version of this article was originally published on August 29, 2024
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