Storm Ingunn: Hurricane-Force Winds Heading For Norway To Clip UK

Severe gales and rain forecast to hit northern Britain.
Waves break over the end of the runway at Sumburgh Airport in Sumburgh, Shetland Islands, as severe weather from Storm Ingunn affects flights and ferry travel.
ANDY BUCHANAN via Getty Images
Waves break over the end of the runway at Sumburgh Airport in Sumburgh, Shetland Islands, as severe weather from Storm Ingunn affects flights and ferry travel.

It looks like another storm is on its way – as hurricane-force winds heading for Norway look set to brush the UK.

Storm Ingunn, named by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, has brought strong gusts to the northern parts of the UK.

Yellow warnings for wind were issued by the Met Office for Scotland and parts of northern England and Northern Ireland amid forecast gusts of more than 100mph.

A projection produced by the Met Office (see below) shows the worst of the extreme weather passing by the northern tip of the UK.

The rapidly deepening area of low pressure passing to the north of Scotland today has been named Storm Ingunn by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Severe gales will affect northern Britain, but in Norway, red warnings are in place for hurricane force winds and avalanches pic.twitter.com/mXkCQQU5Ll

— Met Office (@metoffice) January 31, 2024

The Met Office said: “The rapidly deepening area of low pressure passing to the north of Scotland today has been named Storm Ingunn by the Norwegian Meteorological.

“Severe gales will affect northern Britain, but in Norway, red warnings are in place for hurricane force winds and avalanches.”

The UK has been hit by ten named storms seen since September, and this month alone has seen Storm Jocelyn hurtle towards the UK, hard on the heels of the deadly Storm Isha.

But the worst of the latest bad weather is on its way to the Nordics.

The BBC reported wind speeds of 155mph have already been recorded in the Faroe Islands – far stronger than any gust seen during the UK’s Great 1987 Storm.

Norwegian authorities warned that the country could see its most powerful storm in three decades and urged people to stay indoors.

Storm Ingunn is an exceptional storm. Earlier a gust of 155mph was recorded by a Landsverk weather station in the Faroe Islands - this is far stronger than any gust that The Great 1987 Storm threw at the UK! pic.twitter.com/xvEsrh0d7b

— BBC Weather (@bbcweather) January 31, 2024

AP reported that by midday on Wednesday there were scattered reports of ferry lines linking Norwegians islands suspending their services, and the closing of schools, roads, tunnels and bridges across the mountainous country.

The storm was expected to land in central Norway around midday Wednesday before moving north Thursday.

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