The UK could see a storm being named this week
A period of low pressure is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds this week (Image: Liverpool Echo)
Lead weather presenter at the BBC, Simon King, has given his verdict on whether a storm could be named in the UK this week.
Speculation on whether the UK could see a storm being named comes as weather warnings for wind and rain have been issued by the Met Office for Thursday.
A period of low pressure is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to the UK on Thursday, with gusts of 45-55 mph expected widely, with the possibility of reaching 75 mph in some areas, according to the Met Office.
Due to these conditions, weather warnings for rain are currently in place from the beginning of the day on Thursday, lasting until 9 pm, while wind weather warnings are in force from 9 am on Thursday until midnight.
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But, despite these warning being issued, BBC weather presenter Simon King suggests impacts on the UK will likely not be severe enough to be named as a storm by the Met Office.
A BBC weather presenter has said it unlikely Storm Bram will be named (Image: PA)
However he says we could still hear talk of a named storm, with the effects of the low pressure possibly being significant enough for other meteorological groups to give it a name.
Mr King said: “While the impacts for the UK are not thought severe enough for this low pressure system to be named by the Met Office, we could still end up talking about a named storm.
“With much stronger winds expected in northern France or Belgium on Thursday, impacts there could be much more severe. In this instance, Météo France or the Royal Meteorological Institute in Belgium could name it Storm Benjamin.”
Storm names are given in alphabetical order, with Benjamin being second on the list for storm names in the south-western Europe meteorological group consisting of Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, France and Belgium.
Bram is the second storm name in the UK, Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands and therefore if the storm is named by the Met Office we will know the weather period as Storm Bram.
Deputy chief meteorologist at the Met Office, Dan Harris, said low pressure moving across the south will bring heavy rain and strong winds from Wednesday evening and throughout Thursday.
He explained: “The rain is expected to arrive from the southwest during Wednesday evening, before spreading northeast to many parts of England and Wales during Thursday, leading to difficult driving conditions and the risk of flooding in a few places. At the same time, winds are expected to pick up along south coastal areas in particular.
“However, it is not until Thursday morning that significantly strong northwesterly winds will first begin to affect parts of the west with gusts of 45 to 55 mph, locally 65mph around coasts expected.
“A little later, northerly winds are expected to develop more widely across eastern areas, most likely of similar strength, but there is a small chance of gusts in excess of 70mph should the low pressure system end up being at the stronger end of expectations.”
