Will Tropical Storm Helene affect the UK?
Author: Press Office
12:32 (UTC+1) on Fri 14 Sep 2018
Tropical Storm Helene, which is currently in the mid-Atlantic, is expected to track towards the UK over the next few days bringing a spell of windy weather to many of us at the start of next week.
However as the storm travels across the Atlantic it will weaken, downgrading from a tropical storm to an ex- tropical storm.
A Yellow National Severe Weather Warning has been issued for large parts of the western UK as the storm is expected to affect the western side of the country late on Monday, before clearing quickly to the north of Scotland through Tuesday morning.
Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Andy Page said: "There remains large uncertainty in the exact route Storm Helene will take, however, a spell of very strong winds is expected, initially for parts of south-west England and west Wales, then later south-west Scotland and the southeast of Northern Ireland. Winds are likely to gust to 55-65 mph quite widely in the warning area, with possible gusts of 70-80 mph in exposure".
The storm will also bring some rain, the heaviest of which looks likely to be restricted to the west side of the UK, as well as some warm tropical air, meaning the south east of the country could see temperatures later in the weekend and into the start of next week reaching the mid 20 Celsius.
Outside the warning area, there will be blustery conditions with increasing amounts of cloud and rain. As Storm Helene clears, it will continue to be windy with some bright or sunny spells.
Naming
Earlier this week the Met Office announced the list of storm names for the 2018-2019 season.
Ali is the first name on the list, however, that will not be used, for the following reasons:
When a weather system (hurricane, tropical storm, sub-tropical storm) that has developed in the Atlantic having been named by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the name is not changed and is referred to as ‘ex-Tropical Storm Helene’, for example. However, if the weather system qualifies for naming under our own rules we then refer to it as ‘Storm Helene’.
This system helps avoid confusion in regards to where the storm system originated. Any following named storm in the UK (that is also not a previously named tropical storm or hurricane) will use the next name on our list.
Find out more about these storms and more on our UK Storm Centre pages.
You can find the current forecast for your area using our forecast pages, by following us on Twitter and Facebook, or using our mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store.