Live updates as Storm Dudley set to hit Wales with 80mph winds

Strong winds of up to 80mph brought by Storm Dudley could pose a danger to life on Wednesday, forecasters have warned.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for "very strong and disruptive" winds for some parts of the UK which could cause widespread chaos, including a "good chance" of power cuts and disruption to transport services.

A yellow warning for wind, which could disrupt public transport and power lines, is also in place from 6pm on Wednesday, covering all of northern and central England, most of Wales and southern and central Scotland. Hour-by-hour forecast here.

This warning is in force until 9pm on Friday, and expands to cover Northern Ireland from Thursday.

Met Office forecasters have said the conditions are caused by Storm Dudley which will move across the northern half of the nation from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and Storm Eunice which follows.

In a Met Office daily forecast video, meteorologist Alex Deakin has warned people in the affected areas to brace for "heavy rain and ever-strengthening winds".

"It's going to be a windy day throughout with those winds continuing to pick up through the afternoon and the evening," he said.

"There will be some snow on the hills across Scotland, but it's the rain and more particularly the wind we're concerned about in this storm system on Wednesday. It's likely to cause transport disruption and dangerous conditions by the sea."

Motorists have been urged to drive carefully, while electricity supply firms have issued warnings following the widespread outages in northern England and Scotland which followed storms earlier this year.

Western Power Distribution operations director Graham Halladay says: “We know that storm conditions can be a worrying time for our