St Jude Day Storm to bring hurricane-strength winds to Britain

Weather forecasters have warned Britons of a huge storm that could sweep across the UK on Monday, with hurricane-strength winds that may bring down trees, cause power cuts and transport disruption, as well as damage to homes.

The Met Office says the storm is most likely to impact the southern half of the UK, with the potential for gusts of more than 80mph, especially on exposed coasts in the south.

The St Jude Day Storm, as it has been named, is expected to track just to the south of Ireland and then across central Wales and England to the central North Sea, but could still deviate further north or south, Chief Forecaster Leon Brown of The Weather Channel told AOL Travel.

"On the expected track there are likely to be some very strong winds on the southern and western flank of the storm with storm force winds for a time across west and south Wales and south-west England in the morning to midday, and severe gales along the Channel," he said.

"Gusts of 70 to 90mph still look a high risk with structural damage possible. The strongest winds will only last two or three hours and will transfer quickly eastwards during the day. Central England and East Anglia may see a spell of gale force winds from the west in the afternoon with gusts of 60 or 70mph."

Leon adds: "The storm will also bring some heavy precipitation with between 25 to 40mm expected over the south-west, Wales and northern England. Since the ground is near saturated in these western areas there will be a risk of local flooding."

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Mr Brown advises to "be prepared for the worst" although the timing and track may still change.

Meanwhile, Eddy Carroll, Chief Forecaster at the Met Office, said: "This storm doesn't exist at the moment, but our forecasts models predict it is likely to develop in the west Atlantic on Saturday. Then it's likely to rapidly intensify just west of the UK late on Sunday before tracking across England and Wales early on Monday.

"There is still a chance this storm may take a more southerly track and miss the UK, bringing impacts elsewhere in northern Europe, but people should be aware there is a risk of severe weather and significant disruption."

For Sunday, The Weather Channel predicts: "A large band of moderate to heavy rain ahead of the storm, so Sunday night will become very wet across southern and central Britain with as much as 30 to 60mm over south-west England and Wales, the highest totals most likely in Wales.

"The main feature will be the winds with a high risk of severe gales across southern England and South Wales in the morning, to the south of the low pressure centre."

The winds are likely to ease down for Tuesday and early Wednesday before increasing late Wednesday with strong gale force winds in the north-west on Wednesday evening.

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