Rain, thunder and 90mph winds: Britain to be battered by 'storm of the century'

Britons have been warned by weather forecasters to batten down the hatches next week as heavy rain and severe winds are expected to sweep across the country.

Monday is expected to bring severe or storm force winds to Wales and south-west England in the morning and across central to south-east Britain in the afternoon.

Chief forecaster Leon Brown at The Weather Channel told AOL Travel: "There will be gusts in exposed coastal areas in the south of 80 to 90mph, and inland 70mph.

"These winds may bring down trees and cause structural damage, so batten down the hatches. There will also be some heavy rain with 15 to 30mm likely as the low pressure system moves rapidly east. The detail and timing may yet change since the storm has 5000 miles to develop and spin up."

Before Monday there is more very unsettled and wet weather to come.

"A brief respite is expected on Thursday before a band of rain moves quickly northwards early Friday with a very wet day over Scotland and strong winds.

"After early rain it'll become much brighter but also gusty winds across England and Wales with showers in the west. One consolation is that the east and south-east will be quite warm with temperatures of 18 to 19C."

Mr Brown adds: "The weekend will remain very unsettled and windy with a band of locally heavy rain moving eastwards on Saturday and strong locally gale force south-west winds over western areas."

Speaking to the Daily Express, he said: "Sunday could see gusts exceeding 80mph and very heavy rain. We could be looking at the storm of the century."

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for the Central, Tayside and Fife, London and the South East, Wales, south-west Scotland, Lothian Borders, the South West and Strathclyde.

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