Met Office issues wind warning ahead of busy weekend of travel

Most recently updated updated on the morning of Friday, December 20, the warning covers much of northern England as well as the majority of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The warning is in place from 7am until midnight the same day with parts of the North East, including Newcastle and the western end of South Tyneside.

Warning the public ahead of the forecast, the Met Office claims some delays on road, rail and air transport may be likely, while journeys on public transport may also take longer than expected.

These may further impact the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is already struggling after the system was cut in half due to ongoing issues regarding the Gateshead Flyover.

The weather service also claims some coastal routes and sea fronts will be impacted by spray and large waves.

Strong westerly winds are expected to develop across Saturday with gusts of 50-60 miles per hour expected across the impacted area with peak gusts getting closer to 70 miles per hour, although these are not expected in the North East.

In the North East, these wind speeds are expected to peak just after midday with highs of 56 miles per hour. This is expected to be mixed with showers from around 2pm into the night.

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Wind gusts in the 50s are expected to to continue into Sunday across the North East before returning to more regular expectations of 20 and 30 miles per hour on Monday.

Temperatures across the weekend are expected to peak on Saturday, with this being the only day until Christmas Eve when temperatures in the double figures are expected to return. Sunday will see peaks of 6°C while Monday will only see the mercury rise as high as 7°C.

Double figure temperatures are, according to the Met Office, expected to continue until at least Boxing Day.