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

Met Office severe weather warnings are already in force but we expect to get further updates as the week progresses.

Agnes will move in from the south-west on Wednesday and up through the Irish Sea to affect northern areas of the UK.

The storm was named after a deep area of low pressure developed in the Atlantic which is enhanced by some energy from ex-Hurricane Ophelia which hit the north-east coast of the United States over the weekend.

Warning for wind and heavy rain

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.

In addition to strong winds, there’ll also be some heavy rain which follows what has already been a very wet period so there are separate yellow warnings in central and south-eastern Scotland.

With 30-60mm of rain falling, there could be some localised flooding

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 and is the first named storm of the season.

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