LATEST: Storm Angus batters south coast.
Large parts of South East England were on Saturday bracing for 80mph winds and flooding, as the Met Office issued an Amber alert in the hours before Storm Angus hits Britain.
A yellow “be aware” warning for wind and rain associated with the first named storm of the season has been issued over a larger area, including London, with gusts of up to 55mph expected elsewhere.
Coastal regions - from Bournemouth to Dover - could expect up to 80mph winds while areas run the risk of localised flooding and seeing up to 1.6 inches of rain fall in a short time.
“It is the first storm of the season, coming quite late at this time in November,” the Press Association reported Partridge saying.
“This will be a bit of a shock to the system for most people in terms of wind and rainfall.
“Any weak branches are likely to come down in the first storm.”
Storm Angus is due to hit South West England at around 8pm or 9pm on Saturday night, moving north-eastwards and continuing over East Anglia on Sunday morning.
But Partridge said the storm will move off quite quickly into the North Sea towards Europe around midday Sunday, with the rest of the day expected to be dry with sunny spells.
Northern areas can expect more chilly weather with fairly light winds and clear skies.
Drivers crossing the Pennines on Saturday were confronted with a covering of snow at high levels but all main routes remained open.
Winter wonderland scenes greeted walkers above 1,000ft (305m) in areas of the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales, with some light snow showers hitting lower ground in West Yorkshire.
Braemar in Aberdeenshire dropped to minus 8C (17.6F) on Friday night, with sheltered areas in Scotland set to plummet as low as minus 10C (14F) overnight Saturday and into Sunday morning.