UK weather forecast: Winds of 75mph to batter the coast as Storm Ellen chases away summer highs

Storm Ellen is set to bring strong winds of 75mph to parts of the UK as Britons are told to expect travel disruption and power cuts.

People on camping holidays have been warned that trees could easily come down as Storm Ellen sweeps across Ireland and western parts of the UK.

With strong winds of 75mph due to hit the coast in Northern Ireland, forecasters said the storm is signalling conditions that are more akin to autumn and winter.

It follows days of heavy rain, flash floods and thunderstorms from Storm Kyle.

A Met Office yellow weather warning for wind stretches from the north of Scotland down to the Cornish coast and is in place until the early hours of Friday.

Warnings of potential travel delays and the possibility of power cuts will extend eastwards on Friday to also include central and northern England, as well as all of Wales.

Forecaster Luke Miall said Ellen will be felt “for the next couple of days” and is “not going to move through really quickly so we will continue to see a really big area of low pressure through the rest of this week.”

Northern Ireland is expected to face the worst of the winds, with inland gusts up to 65mph, and top speeds of 75mph on the coast.

People in western Scotland down to the south-west of England will also see winds of up to 65mph, which the Met Office forecaster described as “fairly strong for the time of year”.

“This is fairly unusual for August, we’d usually see this through the autumn and winter months”, Mr Miall said.

“Given that the trees are still in leaf and a lot of people are on the holidays in the UK there could be some impacts of trees coming down more easily than what they would in the winter.

“With people camping, impacts are likely to be a bit greater.”

The stormy conditions come just a week after scorching temperatures across the UK with the mercury hitting 34C for six consecutive days.

Mr Miall said: “We have gone from one extreme to the other, the first thing that springs to my mind with these sorts of events is climate change.

“We are likely to see these swings in extreme events more frequently. Although I couldn’t necessarily say these two events were directly caused by climate change, it’s likely that these sorts of swings in our weather will become more frequent.”

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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Britain braced for strong winds and downpours as Storm Ellen sweeps in