Snow maps show blizzards hit UK as -6C Arctic freeze sweeps in

This is the moment 114mph Storm Eowyn-battered Britain will be blasted again next week – this time with -6C Arctic snow blizzards freezing the UK.

Record-breaking Storm Eowyn has caused chaos in the UK and Ireland with hurricane force winds still posing a danger to life, with millions of people urged to stay at home.

A Met Office red wind warning in place until 5pm Friday for Scotland and Northern Ireland, came as 100mph gusts blasted swathes of the UK – with an amber wind warning in Scotland until 6am Saturday.

A gust of 100mph has been recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, the strongest gust so far today in the UK, the Met Office said.

While gusts of 96mph were recorded at Brizlee Wood in Northumberland and 93mph in Aberdaron in Gwynedd, north Wales, also hit.

In Ireland on Friday, a record-breaking wind speed of 114mph (183kmh) was measured in Mace Head, Co Galway, Ireland.

But while the British Isles suffers with rail services, flights and ferries axed, under Storm Eowyn, these new weather www.WXCharts.com show snow blizzards are set to swoop in at the end of next week.

And its feared the temperature by Sunday 26th January will plunge as low as -6C in the Scottish Highlands.

The news will be the last thing Britons need as Friday saw ‘danger to life’ Storm Eowyn gusts hitting Ireland and the western coast of the UK.

Pronounced ‘Ay-oh-win’, it’s the fifth winter storm of the season and named after a brave heroine in Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings trilogy, in the films played by Miranda Otto.

BBC weather presenter Judith Ralston branded it a “once in a generation” storm, remarking: “It’s very rare you see something like this – it’s once in a generation – in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so severe forecast in my career.

“Now already the Met Office has a ‘danger to life warning, a red warning in force for Argyll, south-west Scotland, southern Lanarkshire, and also into the northern borders and central belt area from 10am to 5pm.

“We are looking at widespread storm force, winds gusts of 70-80mph widely, 90mph certainly possible and on western coasts we could see gusts in excess of 100mph.

“It really is a danger to life situation. Do heed the warnings . It’s a violent storm and a destructive storm.”

The strongest gust ever recorded at ground level in the UK is 142mph, at Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire on 13 February 1989 – although a mountain peak wind gust of 173mph was recorded on Cairngorm Summit in 1986.

On Friday, about 20 per cent of all flights scheduled to operate to or from airports in the UK or Ireland have been cancelled, according to Aviation analytics company Cirium.

Mark Jones, of Coldingham, Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders, described Storm Eowyn hitting the area like “an earthquake”.

At 9.15am on Friday he saw his corrugated iron carport being lifted out of the ground and tipped into an area of woodland.

“I didn’t feel seriously alarmed because there was about 30ft between me and the carport and it just lifted up quite steadily and tilted over,” he said

“I wouldn’t be able to guess at the weight of it but it must be many, many tonnes of metal and it’s just crumpled.

“I just think the word ‘storm’ is too mild for what we have witnessed here. Only a hurricane could do that.”

A total of 1,124 flights have been cancelled, and Dublin, Edinburgh, Heathrow and Glasgow airports are the worst affected, according to the company.

More than 93,000 homes and businesses were left without power in Northern Ireland on Friday, as the storm caused “widespread damage” to electricity networks, according to NIE Networks.

In the Republic of Ireland, 715,000 homes, farms and businesses are without power after “unprecedented” damage was caused to electricity infrastructure, the Irish Electricity Supply Board (ESB) said.

The Isle of Man’s Department of Infrastructure has declared a major incident because of the number of fallen trees and their impact on arterial roads emergency services, the government said on X.

An ice skating rink in the Dublin suburb of Blanchardstown lost its roof leaving a pile of debris on the ground in the wake of Storm Eowyn.

Hundreds of schools and nurseries across Scotland were closed on Friday as First Minister John Swinney warned people not to travel.

Train operator ScotRail suspended all services across Scotland, saying it “would not be safe to operate passenger services” with ferry services axed.

Other services affected by the storm include Avanti West Coast, LNER, West Midlands Railway, Lumo, Transport for Wales and Southern Western Railway.

Motorists in areas covered by red and amber weather warnings were urged to avoid travel “unless absolutely essential”.

National Highways said the A66 between the A1M in North Yorkshire and M6 in Cumbria, and the A628 Woodhead Pass in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, were both closed overnight into Friday because of strong winds.

The M48 Severn bridge in Gloucester has been shut and the M62 Ouse Bridge in East Yorkshire and the A19 Tees flyover in Co Durham are closed to high-sided vehicles.

Satellite imagery suggests a dangerous weather phenomenon known as a sting jet developed over Ireland during this time, the Met Office has said.

A sting jet is a small area of very intense winds, according to the weather service.

The so-called Great Storm in October 1987, which claimed 18 lives, is an example of a sting jet forming, according to the weather service’s website.

RAC Breakdown advised motorists in warning areas to stay safe by parking away from trees, to keep a firm grip on the steering wheel, avoid coastal routes and watch out for debris.

Some 4.5 million people received emergency alerts on their phones warning of the incoming storm in the “largest real-life use of the tool to date” on Thursday.