Storm Kathleen to tear into UK with 70mph winds and snow

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Strong wind and rain set to hit the UK this weekend has been named Storm Kathleen, the Met Office said.

The storm is expected to bring gusts of up to 60mph-70mph in areas along the west coast of England and Scotland on Saturday, and 50mph more widely across the country.

The forecaster said coastal areas can also expect to see large waves.

It is the second time a UK named storm has reached the letter K, following Storm Katie in March 2016.

No storm season has ever got beyond the letter K. The Met Office began naming storms in 2015.

Last year’s storm season, which ran from September 2022 to August 2023, made it only as far as the letter B, with Storm Betty in August.

By contrast, this year’s season has seen storm Agnes in September 2023, Babet in October, Ciaran and Debi in November, Elin, Fergus and Gerrit in December, Henk, Isha and Jocelyn in January 2024, and now Kathleen in April.

Not all of the alphabet is used when naming storms.

The letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are omitted, in line with convention established by the US National Hurricane Centre.

It means the storm names still available for the current season are Lilian, Minnie, Nicholas, Olga, Piet, Regina, Stuart, Tamiko, Vincent and Walid.

The Met Office’s list of storm names is shared with Met Eireann in Ireland and KNMI, the Dutch national weather forecasting service.

Kathleen was named by Met Eireann.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…

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