Storm Barra 'weather bomb' to bring more misery after 1000s of homes suffer power cuts

7 December 2021, 17:56 | Updated: 7 December 2021, 18:19

Storm Barra could bring more misery tomorrow after weather experts branded it a "weather bomb".

The Met Office said some delays to public transport "are likely" and short term power loss is "possible" in parts of the UK.

It has issued a warning for South West England and Wales for Wednesday, smaller in area than the warnings issued on Tuesday.

Experts have branded the storm a "weather bomb", where violent winds develop, according to the Met Office.

There were fears of any damage Storm Barra might cause to communities in the wake of Storm Arwen, which at one point left tens of thousands of properties without power.

Read more: 'Weather bomb' Storm Barra to bring more disruption after thousands of homes suffer power cuts

Storm Barra arrives bringing rain, 70mph winds and disruption threat

However, it appears to have been milder for most of the UK, though some homes were left without power for a time.

Scotland experienced snow and many parts saw winds and rain showers.

The Met Office described a weather bomb as a scenario where the jet stream causes a rapid acceleration of air high up in the atmosphere, which causes pressure to fall at sea level.

"This in turn sucks in air which converges from surrounding regions resulting in faster and faster rotation of the circulation, in the same way that ice skaters spin faster by drawing their arms in. The resulting winds peak over a period of a few hours and can be strong enough to bring down trees and cause structural damage," it said.

At one point on Tuesday, Hull saw more than 4,000 buildings lose power but it was expected to be restored shortly.

Rain and snow weather warnings for Scotland during Storm Barra

Hundreds of homes were also cut off in South and West Yorkshire, and properties were also affected in Wales.

Throughout the country, reports of travel disruption and fallen trees emerged.

In Northern Ireland, where a yellow wind warning was due to expire at 6pm on Tuesday, more than 5,000 homes and businesses were left without power at one point.

Gusts of 76mph at Orlock Head in County Down and 71mph at Magilligan in County Londonderry, among the UK’s strongest, were recorded.

That the weather did not get much worse will come as a relief to those who went days without power after Storm Arwen.

Boris Johnson on Tuesday admitted the UK needed to get more resilient against weather events like Arwen.

Boris Johnson says UK must be better protected from storms like Arwen

"Too many people have spent too long without power. I have spoken over the last few days to some of the people involved, particularly to the authorities at Northern Powergrid who explained some of the massive technical difficulties they have had in dealing with the effects of Storm Arwen," he said.

"Faster, high wind that froze a lot of their equipment, or so it was explained to me. That's no consolation to thousands of people who have been without power.

"At the moment they have restored power to 99.9% of those who were without power but what is clear is there are still hundreds more who don't have it.

"We need to learn the lessons for the future and make sure that we have better resilience against storms of this kind."