Storm Dudley: Last minute Met Office update predicts 80 mph storms to hit EARLIER in Newcastle

The Met Office has issued a last minute update to its weather warning on when Storm Dudley will batter Newcastle.

Wind speeds of up to 80 mph could hit the city today, Wednesday, February 16.

Initially it was thought the storm would arrive in the early evening, but that time has now been brought forward twice by the Met Office.

In the latest update, issued on Wednesday morning, the winds are now set to hit from 2 pm today.

The Met Office says they will then last until 23:59 tonight with gusts of 60-70 mph “likely” and that wind speeds of 75-80 mph might also be reached.

The weather experts warned that: “Road, rail, air and ferry services likely to be affected, and some roads and bridges are likely to close, leading to longer journey times and cancellations.

“Perhaps some fallen trees and damage to buildings, such as tiles blown from roofs.

“There is a chance that power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage.

“Large waves and beach material may be thrown onto coastal roads, sea fronts and properties.”

It’s been a tricky winter for the area after Storm Arwen left thousands across the North East without power in December.

Northern Powergrid apologised at the time, saying: “As well as creating enormous challenges for us in terms of the engineering work we have to do to respond, the scale of the disruption has made it very challenging for us to communicate effectively with our customers.

“We have heard that loud and clear - and we are sorry that we weren’t able to do better in that respect.”