'Danger to life' wind warning as Storm Ali causes flying debris and damages buildings while Storm Helene sweeps out

Dangerous flying debris has prompted a danger to life warning from the Met Office as Storm Ali brings strong winds of up to 80mph to the UK.

Amber severe weather warnings for the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been issued by the Met Office ahead of the storm’s arrival in the early hours of Wednesday.

Journeys by road, rail and air are likely to be disrupted and Storm Ali could also damage buildings, lead to power cuts and blow over trees.

Milder yellow wind warnings were also issued across Northern Ireland, Scotland, the north of England and Wales on Wednesday.

While the amber warnings are in place from 8am to 5pm, while the yellow alerts are scheduled from 6am to 10pm.

Forecasters scrapped a wind warning for today as gusts failed to meet the power threshold as Storm Helene fades away.

Meteorologist Dean Hall said parts of the UK felt gusts of about 30-40mph on Tuesday morning, with wind speeds reaching 50mph in parts of Wales.

Storm Helene, which was downgraded after initial warnings it may pose a risk to life, is moving away towards the north east and will have moved on by Wednesday.

“We’ve got rain currently across Scotland, northern England, eastern parts of Northern Ireland, associated with what was Storm Helene,” Mr Hall said.

Wednesday could see winds of 60-70mph, the forecaster said, adding: “Certainly we could see close to 80mph, possibly even higher miles per hour in exposed areas in the far north of the country.”

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Meteorologist Bonnie Diamond added: “Winds will build quite quickly through the morning and remain very strong.

“Temperatures will remain fairly mild though as it brings in mild air from the Atlantic.

“Moving into Thursday we will see widespread heavy and persistent rain which looks set to change to sunshine and showers on Friday, before becoming more settled on Saturday.”

Temperatures remain above average for this time of year with 24C (75F) possible in London on Tuesday after the mercury hit 26C (79F) in the capital on Monday.