As Britain restores power after Storm Amy, alarming new weather charts reveal that the UK is set to be hit by snowstorms later this month. Storm Amy brought “extremely damaging” winds when it began to hit Ireland and the UK on Friday, with gusts of almost 100mph recorded in some exposed coastal areas.
Engineers are still trying to reconnect 8,500 homes in Scotland which suffered power cuts in the wake of Storm Amy, which battered the country on Friday and into the weekend. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said that, as of 8.30am on Monday, their teams had reconnected 80,000 households and work is under way to restore power for 8,500.
Police said the death of a man in his 40s in Co Donegal last weekend was weather related – with a new October wind gust record for Northern Ireland was set when gusts reached 92mph at Magilligan in County Londonderry.
But new WXCharts.com weather maps reveal that on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd October reveal snow storms are set to hit the Highlands of Scotland.
Up to 5cm per hour of snow is predicted to fall in the Highlands near Fort William.
The Met Office’s long-range forecast from Monday 20th October until the start of November reads: “The final third of October will likely see a transition to more unsettled conditions across the UK, with high pressure relinquishing its grip, though the timing and manner of this is uncertain.
“Whether this takes the form of successive depressions moving in from the Atlantic or a rather slower-evolving weather pattern remains to be seen, but there is a greater chance of most if not all places seeing spells of rain or showers and possibly strong winds later in the month, these conditions continuing into the start of November.
“Temperatures will probably be close to average overall.”
Storm Amy is the first named storm of the 2025/26 season and most of the homes still without power after last weekend’s gusts are in the Highlands, while some communities in Argyll and Bute are also waiting to be reconnected.
About 2,500 homes in the Republic of Ireland and 100 in Northern Ireland were also without power on Sunday night.
The Met Office forecast that Monday will be wet and windy for western Scotland though there are no weather warnings in place.