Warning: 90mph storms are set to batter Britain

Winds of up to 90mph will begin sweeping in today, severe enough to damage property, disrupt transport networks and bring down trees and power lines. Forecasters warned that mountainous seas combined with torrential rain will heighten fears of devastating floods.

Up to an inch and a half of rain is expected to fall locally, with at least an inch over wider areas. Further north, the rain will fall as snow with up to six inches expected in the worst-hit parts of Scotland. But respected long-term forecaster Piers Corbyn said this could be only a taste of far worse to come.

“The strength of this weekend’s storm makes us even more confident of extreme events in the run-up to Christmas,” he said. “There will be very serious storms with hurricane-force winds.”

Over the next 48 hours, a “compact but vigorous” low pressure system will rapidly deepen near the north of Ireland and then run south-east across Wales and England.

As it does so, severe to storm-force winds will blast a swathe of the southern and western British Isles, with the worst of the winds hitting tomorrow.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for Devon, Cornwall and south Wales, which will bear the brunt of the front hurtling out of the Atlantic.

But today is also expected to be very wet and windy across the whole of the country, with wind speeds of up to 50mph.

Helen Chivers, from the Met Office, said: “Wind speeds will begin increasing this morning from the south-west and by evening everywhere will be very windy.

“To be honest, it’s going to be pretty miserable. Heavy rain will sweep in during the day today, which will fall as snow on higher ground.

“The Pennines, the North Yorkshire moors and Scotland will all see snow, with up to six inches falling in the Grampian region.

“But the strongest winds will begin building early tomorrow morning, and at the moment we expect to see gusts up to 80mph in the south-west. “This could cause some damage to roofs and bring tree branches down.”

MeteoGroup forecaster Stephen Davenport warned that, although the worst of the weather would be experienced in the south-west, there was still a possibility that conditions could rapidly deteriorate elsewhere  at short notice.

He said: “The steady winds are bad enough, but there is the potential for squalls of 70 to 80 mph, perhaps even in excess of 90 mph, in exposed locations.

“It only needs the depression to shift a few miles to bring the storm to an even larger area.”

The latest alert comes after the country took a pounding on Thursday night with winds gusting to more than 70mph in Cardigan Bay and around the Isle of Wight.

A 55,000-ton car carrier safely reached Falmouth Bay yesterday morning after its main engine broke down down in gale-force winds off Land’s End.

A Coastguard tug went to the aid of the Figaro, which was carrying more than 2,500 vehicles. A spokesman for the Coastguard said the bay was “choc-a-bloc” with boats sheltering.

On land, houses were damaged as trees were sent crashing to the ground and several roads were left axle-deep when flood water quickly built up.

Even the annual Christmas tree in London’s Trafalgar Square felt the force of the wind. Next week, however, will see a return to more seasonal December weather. Helen Chivers said: “Things might start to quieten down again.

“There will still be some showers on Monday and it will be cooler with fresh northerly winds. But southern parts should have a dry week with frost and fog patches overnight.

“The north-west will be milder and damper, but the winds won’t be as strong and the rain not as heavy as recently.”

Forecasters say there is only a 15 per cent chance of snow falling on Christmas Day even in the north – and the outlook could, in fact, be far from festive.