Storm Aiden

Met Éireann, the national weather service in Ireland, named Storm Aiden on Friday due to strong winds and heavy rain.  Storm Aiden will then track north-eastwards transferring wet and windy weather to the UK later on Friday and Saturday, for which the Met Office has issued several wind and rain warnings.

Unsettled conditions

Met Office Chief Meteorologist Frank Saunders said: “This week has been fairly unsettled and we’ll see this typical autumnal weather continuing over the weekend, with heavy rain and strong winds expected to bring disruption and risk of flooding to some areas.

National Severe Weather Warning

“Although Friday will be bright for most, heavy and persistent rain will arrive across western areas later this evening as Storm Aiden arrives in the UK. Several yellow rain and warnings are in place from Saturday until Monday, covering western parts of the UK."

Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Martin Young, said: “As the heavy rain and strong winds from Storm Aiden sweeps eastwards on Saturday, another system quickly follows on Sunday that contains the remnants of ex-Hurricane Zeta, bringing further heavy rain and strong winds.

Flood risk

“Given that this is falling on already saturated ground from what has been a wet October, there is an increased risk of flooding in some warnings areas.

Martin continued: “We will continue to monitor the situation over the weekend and may update the warnings, as details in the timing and potential impacts become clearer.  Therefore we’re urging people to keep a close eye on the forecast, flood alerts and warnings in their areas."

Be alert

Gary White, Duty Tactical Manager for Natural Resources Wales said: “The predicted heavy rain is likely to cause flooding up and down the country over the next few days and in to the weekend, so we’re advising people to keep up to date with flood warnings and alerts issued in their areas.

“Our emergency response workers will be at key sites checking defences are in good working order and making sure any drainage grids and screens are clear to reduce the risk to people and their homes."

Stay connected

You can check the risk of flood and alerts in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales  and England.

You can check the latest weather warnings on our severe weather warnings pages and you can get the most accurate and up to date forecast for your area using our forecast pages and by following us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as using our mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store. Whatever the weather we are all being urged to remember the Government Coronavirus guidelines.