AMBER WEATHER WARNING – STORM ÉOWYN [24 January 2025]

[Marc]

AMBER WEATHER WARNING – STORM ÉOWYN

The Met Office has issued an AMBER warning for Storm Éowyn, valid Friday 0600 – 2100 covering all of Dumfries and Galloway.

At this time we are anticipating strong winds and snow with disruption to power supplies likely. DGVOST - Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team - DGVOST - Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team will be activated – this will be your main point of contact to report incidents and receive updates during the storm

Be Prepared – visit Ready Scotland to find advice and support on preparing for severe weather.

The AMBER warning has a low likelihood of high impacts
Weather details -
Wednesday and Thursday will bring mostly quiet weather, except for some rain on Thursday, before conditions worsen during Friday:
Winds
Storm Éowyn (pronounced ay-oh-win) will quickly spread from the southwest during Friday, bringing strong winds, rain and some transient snow. The current forecast shows that winds are expected to strengthen during the early hours to bring windy conditions for the morning commute. As the centre of Éowyn passes over central Scotland during the morning, winds will ease considerably here for a time, before picking up very quickly across the south as the storm moves moves northeast (see this Met Office post on X for a visual). This core of strongest winds is currently likely to affect southwest Scotland during the late morning before pushing northeastwards across the rest of southern Scotland during the afternoon. Peak gusts inland are expected to be 60-80mph across the Amber area, with 80-90mph possible over exposed coasts and hills. There is still some uncertainty over the exact north-south positioning of the track of Éowyn, which will affect the location of the strongest winds. This warning will remain under review and is likely to be updated again tomorrow. Further escalation of the warning is a possibility.
It’s important to note the significance of the Amber warning being in the high impact column. This indicates the potential for impacts above the more typical medium impact, Amber Warning for Wind. Potential impacts include –
Power cuts are likely to occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage
Road, rail, air and ferry services are likely to be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible. Some roads and bridges will close
There is a chance that damage to buildings and homes could occur, with roofs blown off and power lines brought down
Injuries and danger to life could occur from flying debris, as well as large waves and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts, coastal roads and properties
As Éowyn pushes northeastwards, the strong winds spread further north, affecting the rest of mainland Scotland during the afternoon and evening on Friday. Gusts here are expected to be in the region of 50-60 mph, with 60-70mph on exposed coasts and hills, possibly 80mph for exposed parts of western Scotland. Into Saturday, and the area of strong winds have moved to the Northern Isles, though still remaining blustery elsewhere for a time. Our Yellow Warnings for Wind were updated this morning and now reflect a low likelihood of medium impacts in the north of Scotland from 0000 Friday effectively through to 1500 Saturday (though, noting the lull in during Friday morning).
Rain and snow
A period of widespread rain and snow will quickly move across Scotland during Friday morning, this could bring snow to fairly low levels for a time before gradually turning to rain across the south. Any accumulations across southern Scotland will be short lived (2-5cm above around 100m elevation), but snow is likely to persist for longer for areas north of the central belt, where 10-20cm is possible above 300m. We have issued a low impact Yellow Warning for Snow for the Western Isles, Skye and the mainland of Scotland away from coastal areas. The afternoon is likely to bring more showery rain and hill snow, which could still be heavy at times. The combination of wind and snow will make for some very unpleasant driving conditions through the early hours of Friday in the south, and through much of the day across the north.
Please note that we have a yellow warning for wind pre and post Storm Éowyn and also a yellow warning for snow during Storm Éowyn.