Storm Hannah has swept the UK, bringing 82mph winds and heavy rain while causing planes difficulty landing after gales battered Irel...
Storm Hannah has swept the UK, bringing 82mph winds and heavy rain while causing planes difficulty landing after gales battered Ireland and left thousands of properties without power.
A yellow wind warning covering Wales along with central and southern England had been in force until 3pm today as transport networks were disrupted and homes suffered with power cuts, and Northern Ireland was covered by a yellow rain warning.
Aircraft over Liverpool Airport were pictured struggling to touch down, and a Turkish Airlines flight from Birmingham Airport was forced to land just 30 minutes after departure after a heavy gust caused its tail to strike the runway during takeoff.
The Boeing 737 returned to the airport for technical checks having taken off at 10.45am.
Western Power Distribution said more than 1,700 properties had been left without power on its network on Saturday morning, with the majority of those affected in Wales.
But the Republic of Ireland took a serious beating from the storm, with 25,000 properties losing power by 10am on Saturday - which has been attributed mainly to trees falling on overhead lines as a result of the high winds.
Powerful waves were spotted crashing into Blackpool's north shore, trees lie strewn across roads in Bath, Somerset, and tents and trampolines have been seen taking off in the powerful gusts across the country.
By 10am, Aberdaron, Wales, recorded the strongest UK winds of 62mph, while Lake Vyrnwy and Pennerley were the coldest, with temperatures of 37.4F.
But as Storm Hannah moves eastward, the weather is set to become dryer and brighter in the coming days, though it won't compare to the sunshine we saw on Easter weekend.
Before midday Simon Partridge, of the Met Office, told MailOnline: 'There's a number of bands of rain swirling around Hannah at the moment - the most prominent one is over Northern Ireland, there's been rain there for a while now.
'Northern Ireland and western Wales really bore the brunt of the rain so far.
'In the last six hours we've seen 26mm of rain across Capel Curig in wales and also 20mm over Katesbridge in County Down, Northern Ireland - and that's expected to carry on for a few hours yet.
'Most of the strongest gusts have been in south and south west Wales. Those will gradually ease out in the day although we are still currently recording gusts in the 60mph area across Wales up through the Bristol channel.'
Transport for Wales said storm damage on the Conwy Valley line meant buses were replacing trains between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The Llyn Peninsula saw the highest gust overnight when a gust of 82mph was clocked at Aberdaron.
Meanwhile a gust of 78mph was recorded at Pembrey Sands in Carmarthenshire and a 64mph gust was observed at the Needles off the Isle of Wight.
Forecasters said the highest winds were expected in exposed coastal areas, although gusts could reach up to 50mph as the storm moves inland.
But the storm is expected to clear up just in time for the London Marathon on Sunday - with temperatures around 52F earlier on, possibly rising to 61F in the afternoon.
Many areas saw wet and windy conditions today, but Scotland and south east England saw comparatively calm weather.
Temperatures ranged between 48F and 53F - much lower than the 79F heat seen over the Easter weekend, and western parts of the country could also see a touch of frost on Saturday night under clearer skies in Storm Hannah's wake.
Named by the Irish weather service Met Eireann, Storm Hannah barrelled into Ireland's south-west on Friday.
Forecasters issued several weather warnings, including a red warning of 'violent gusts'.
ESB Networks said on Friday night that strong winds had caused damage to the electricity network affecting approximately 10,000 homes, farms and businesses, predominantly in counties Kerry and Cork.
But on Saturday morning crews began working to restore electricity to more than 32,000 customers in Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.
A spokeswoman said the damage was mainly attributable to trees falling on overhead lines as a result of the high winds.
More than 25,000 properties remained without power at 10am, but the company expected to have power restored to most customers by Saturday evening. Areas most affected include the Iveragh and Dingle peninsulas and areas of West Cork including Macroom.
Status yellow warnings were issued on Friday for 11 of the Republic's 26 counties.
A red level warning was issued for counties Kerry and Clare in the south west of the country.
The Met Office had issued yellow wind warnings for Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset, south Wales and southern parts of Hampshire and Sussex, which come into force at 9pm last night, lasting until 3pm on Saturday.
Officials have warned there could be travel disruption, power cuts and flying debris around coastal areas.
This is the first time the Met Office or its Irish partner Met Eireann has had to name an April or May storm since naming storms began in 2015. Only storms with significant expected impacts are named.
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