Northern Ireland is set to escape the worst of Storm Otto as weather conditions this weekend look set to be largely dry and mild.
A low-pressure system is set to bring high winds and rain to parts of the UK and has been named Storm Otto by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).
Storm Otto will move east across the far north of the UK from the early hours of Friday morning, likely bringing gusts in excess of 75mph to some northern areas.
Read more: Rare footage of the first time human eyes set sights on the Titanic wreck
Met Office Chief Meteorologist Andy Page said: “Storm Otto will bring high winds and rain to the UK, with some northern parts of Scotland and the northeast of England likely to get the strongest gusts of wind, possibly in excess of 75mph. Warnings have been issued and could be updated as Storm Otto develops.
“There’s a chance of travel disruption and high-sided vehicles could be particularly prone to disrupted plans in this set-up. There’s associated rain with Storm Otto, with 40-50 mm of rain likely to fall over parts of western Scotland.”
Potential impacts highlighted in the warning also include the likelihood of large waves, especially in North Sea coasts, as well as a chance of some damage to buildings and infrastructure.
While Storm Otto will bring impacts to the UK, Denmark is expected to get more severe weather on Friday afternoon, resulting in them naming the system, which has now been adopted by the Met Office as per storm naming arrangements.
Otto is the first named storm to directly impact the UK this storm naming season (from September 2022). The first storm named by the Met Office, Met Eireann or KNMI this season will still be Storm Antoni, in accordance with the 2022/23 storm name list.
For Northern Ireland, Friday will be a largely bright day with a few showers and strong to gale force winds, perhaps severe for a time along the north coast. The winds will ease later with rain returning during the evening and a maximum temperature 11 °C.
After rain overnight, it will be bright and mainly dry on Saturday. Sunday will also be mainly bright and dry then cloudier with strengthening winds and rain later. Sunny spells are forecast for Monday followed by rain later.
READ NEXT:
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
