Amber Warnings Bite at Nine as Boelo’s Worst Arrives
Two amber wind warnings take effect at nine tonight, covering Scotland, northern England and parts of Northern Ireland. The strongest gust recorded so far is 76mph at South Uist. All 30 ferry services on Scotland’s west coast are cancelled for the weekend, and Scottish rail lines close from nine.
One detail is being reported wrongly almost everywhere, including by outlets we rely on: the Scottish amber warning is described as lasting 24 hours, but it runs from nine tonight to nine tomorrow evening across the night the clocks go back, which makes it 25. Widespread gusts of 60 to 70mph are forecast, with 80mph only on exposed coasts. The practical toll so far is disruption rather than danger: no injuries or deaths have been reported. The Foyle Bridge at Londonderry is shut, Liverpool’s river festival is off for a second night, and castles, parks and Halloween events have closed from Edinburgh to Pitlochry. On power, National Grid said more than 124,000 properties had been reconnected by late afternoon with hundreds still off — and the honest picture is that the outage count rose before it fell, from 5,774 this morning to 6,075 in mid-afternoon. The forward watchpoint is a third system: a deep area of low pressure may arrive late Monday into Tuesday on a similar track, though forecasters say it is too early to know whether it will be named.