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Hurricane Helene heading towards the UK, bringing chances of gale force winds

<em>Swirling – Hurricane Helene is to the right of Hurricane Florence, which is about to make landfall on the east coast of America (Picture: NOAA via AP)</em>
Swirling – Hurricane Helene is to the right of Hurricane Florence, which is about to make landfall on the east coast of America (Picture: NOAA via AP)

Hurricane Helene is likely to head towards the UK, meteorologists are predicting.

Helene is currently in the Atlantic Ocean following behind Hurricane Florence, which was expected to hit the eastern coast of the US late Thursday or early Friday.

People have been ordered to evacuate the Carolinas ahead of strong winds and heavy rain as the hurricane lands.

A smaller hurricane dubbed Isaac is reportedly heading for the Caribbean, while Hurricane Helene – currently also in the Atlantic – is forecast to track towards the UK.

But the weather system will have weakened by the time it hits the western side of the UK, becoming more of a storm, the Met Office said.

A spokeswoman said: “Basically Helene is in the Atlantic at the moment and is crossing the Atlantic and is expected to track towards the UK.

“As it tracks towards the UK it will degrade – it will become an ex-tropical storm. What we will get are the remnants of the tropical storm.”

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She said that will bring with it a low pressure system, bringing wet and windy weather to the UK, especially on Tuesday.

Meteorologists are still trying to work out exactly which way the weather system could track, she said, adding: “But at the moment it does look as though it’s tracking towards the western side of the UK and will cross the southern half of the UK.”

<em>Evacuations – Storm Florence, on the upper left, is set to hit the US late on Thursday or early on Friday (Picture: NOAA via AP)</em>
Evacuations – Storm Florence, on the upper left, is set to hit the US late on Thursday or early on Friday (Picture: NOAA via AP)

She added: “The feeling is that it’s the wind that’s going to be the issue rather than rain and we’re probably looking at gale-force winds. There will be some rain but at the moment it doesn’t look as though that’s going to be the issue.”

The remnants of the storm could even end up bringing some drier conditions to the south west of the UK.