Thousands of Brits could see the lights go out as power cut warnings have been put in place across the UK.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the north of England and Scotland on Saturday (December 21), from 7pm to midnight and much of the UK on Sunday (December 22), from midnight to 9pm.
As the country braces for 75mph winds, the forecaster has warned of power cuts as well as road, rail, air and ferry delays with spray and large waves predicted in coastal communities.
The Saturday warning is in place across north England (Manchester, Liverpool, Carlisle), Northern Ireland (Derry, Belfast) and Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness).
The Sunday warning is in place across south England (Truto, Plymouth, Exeter, Salisbury, Bath), the midlands and Wales (Gloucester, Cardiff, Conwy, Stoke), the north of England (Manchester, Liverpool, Carlisle, Newcastle).
It is also in place in Northern Ireland (Derry, Belfast), and Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness).
The Met Office said of the period: “Increasingly windy through the weekend with gale force winds in the north with some wintry showers. Temperatures staying mild for December but settling down by Monday.”
There are 12 flood warnings and 86 flood alerts in place across England, mostly in the midlands, East Anglia and the south of England. There are none in Scotland.
“The start of this outlook sees the onset of a relatively prolonged period of settled weather, as an area of high pressure becomes established across much of the UK, probably centred over or just to the south of England.
“Early on, this will confine spells of rain and wind to the northwest of Scotland, though rain could become quite persistent here for a time.
“Later on, it may become settled in the northwest too, but confidence in the position of the north/south boundary between settled and unsettled steadily lowers through the period.
“Becoming widely mild, perhaps exceptionally so in some places, but also often fairly cloudy, although clearer spells overnight may lead to localised frost and fog.”
