Storm Agnes: what do you need to know?

The first named storm of the autumn and winter season is expected to hit the United Kingdom and Ireland on Wednesday.

Named Storm Agnes by the Met Office, it is likely to bring damage and disruption from strong winds and heavy rain.

Met Office warnings are already in force but as details get more certain, there will continue to be updates.

The public is urged to keep across the forecast.

Storm Agnes is currently a deep area of low pressure developing in the Atlantic, enhanced by some energy from ex-Hurricane Ophelia which hit the north-east coast of the United States over the weekend.

It is likely to move in from the south-west on Wednesday and move up through the Irish Sea to northern areas of the UK throughout the day.

The Met Office has issued a yellow severe weather warning for wind from Wednesday through until Thursday morning.

While there are still some uncertainties in the details of the forecast the most likely scenario is for a swathe of strong winds with gusts of 50-60mph (80-97km/h) to affect inland areas.

Some Irish Sea coastal parts though could see gusts of 65-75mph (105-120km/h), with a chance of 80mph (130km/h) in most exposed areas.

These wind speeds have the potential to bring travel disruption with bridges closed or ferry services cancelled.

Trees may come down and power supplies may be cut in some areas.

There is also the potential for injury and damage to property.

After recent heavy rain in parts there is also some concern about further rain from Agnes bringing further flooding issues.

There are therefore two separate yellow warnings for rain in central and south-western Scotland where there could be 30-60mm of rain bringing some impacts.

While the UK saw two storms in August – Antoni and Betty – these fell into the time period of the 2022-23 season which had a set of names used for storms.

The 2023-24 storm season started on 1 September which also means there is a new set of names established in collaboration between the UK Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

This is why we start back at the letter A for Agnes for the first named storm of the season.

For the up-to-date warnings and forecast information you can follow BBC Weather on social media @bbcweather or our website.