The Met Office has issued UK weather warnings for Friday, with a yellow severe weather warning in place from midnight to 12:00 BST for south-west Wales, south-west England and the coast towards west Sussex. Winds are expected to strengthen later this week, with the worst-affected exposed areas seeing gusts of up to 70mph.
The warning covers a broad southern stretch of the UK and brings the prospect of travel disruption, damage to buildings and a small risk of power cuts. For people in the warning area, the practical change is not just the wind speed but the timing: the strongest conditions are expected during the Friday window set out by the Met Office.
Friday warning area
Wind gusts are likely to be widely 50-60mph, with the higher end reserved for more exposed locations. The Met Office said the strongest winds are expected to stay limited to southern areas, with the highest risk of disruptive winds over southernmost parts of England and Wales and possibly some eastern coastal counties of England later on Friday.
That puts the focus on the edge of the warning area, where the coastline and more exposed ground can see the sharpest gusts. People in those places face the clearest risk from the forecast, especially where higher winds line up with the Friday timing.
South-west Wales and south-west England
The warning is not the only sign of a wet and windy spell. The whole of the UK will experience rain at times, and the week ahead is expected to be the wettest and windiest of the autumn so far. Bands of rain will widely bring some significant rainfall, adding to the weather already forecast for Friday.
Heavy rain is expected to spread across much of England and east Wales on Tuesday and move towards Scotland later in the day. More areas of rain are likely on Wednesday in many parts of the UK, which means the ground will already be dealing with repeated rainfall before the Friday wind warning takes hold.
Late Thursday to Friday
Current forecasts point to a deep low pressure system passing the south of the UK on Friday after approaching late Thursday. The exact track of that system will decide where the strongest winds land, which is why the forecast keeps southernmost parts of England and Wales in the highest-risk zone.
That track remains the key uncertainty. If the low stays farther south, the strongest winds stay more tightly focused; if it shifts, the area of disruptive gusts can move with it. Readers in the warning zone should follow the Friday forecast closely, because the strongest conditions may still shift before the system reaches the south of the UK.
