UK Issues Red Warning as Storm Darragh Brings Hurricane-Strength Winds

has triggered a red weather warning for the west coast of Wales and the Bristol Channel on Saturday, with hurricane-force winds forecast.

Wind speeds are expected to reach as high as 90 miles (145 kilometers) per hour, according to the UK Met Office. There are also amber warnings for Northern Ireland and much of the west coast of England, while the stormy conditions could bring snow to parts of Scotland.

“We are likely to see impacts across the whole of the country,” Met Office Chief Forecaster Jason Kelly, said. “In the red warning area, we could see wind gusts of up to 90 miles per hour along the coasts of west and south Wales as well as funnelling through the Bristol Channel, with some very large waves on exposed beaches.”

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Flights across the UK could be disrupted over the weekend, according to , as well as . Strong winds ahead of Darragh have already led to more than 100 flights being canceled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, according to Dutch news agency ANP.

Europe has been hit with a string of storms over the past two months, including those that caused Spain’s largest natural disaster in six decades at the end of October. Floods, storms and hurricanes are expected to boost insurance industry losses by 17% this year, according to a report by the Swiss Re Institute published Thursday.

Storm Darragh is also causing alarm in other parts of Europe, with yellow alerts in place for large swaths of France on Saturday, .

This winter is set to be Europe’s coldest since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, putting pressure on already elevated energy costs as the continent dips into its gas reserves at a faster-than-usual rate.

Photograph: Waves crash over the breakwater on Nov. 23, 2024 in Newhaven, England. Photo credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Europe