Issued: 0900 GMT Wednesday 12th November 2005
Duty forecaster: Simon Keeling

Well, what a night that was! Skule Skerry, just north of Scotland saw gusts of 114mph, with Stornoway not far behind at 97mph. Fair Isle and Lerwick both managed gusts in excess of 90mph.

As I type this discussion winds are still at severe gale force 9 at Lossiemouth with gusts to 58mph.. Many stations in Scotland and northwest England are also reporting gales. See here

A deep area of low pressure is close to Shetland just now with gales affecting Scotland for much of the day. Blustery showers are also moving eastwards through Scotland, bringing blizzards to the Highlands and Cairngorms.

Northern Scotland is set for a blowy twenty-four hours with the winds at gale force through northern Scotland, Shetland and Orkney until the early part of Thursday afternoon.

Over Ireland the winds have now begun to decrease, although they are still strong to gale force around northern and western coasts. As the low pressure pulls away to the northeast through the day the winds are going to continue to decrease.

And thankfully, the weather looks set to improve for all but the far north of Scotland. High pressure will be building from the west on Thursday, bringing a welcome respite from the rough weather of the past few days.

However, an winds are likely to increase again through Friday and Saturday with gales over Ireland, western Wales, western Scotland and parts of western England, but more on that tomorrow.

Should you need further information, or for an update on the situation you can talk to our forecasters on 09061 991 189 (calls cost �1.50 p/minute).

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Highestwind speeds so far
Currentwind speeds
Modelforecast and data