As autumn enforces its vice-like grip on the UK, the public were put on alert last night as the first Atlantic depression of the season is expected to make landfall near Cornwall sometime around the morning rush hour.
The depression, known to forecasters as ‘Low 998 mb’, and currently situated just to the west of Galway, started out as a small disturbance in the atmosphere in the region of Newfoundland and has been gathering pace ever since to the point where it has been classified as a “proper weather system” .
At the time of reporting, “Low 998”, as she has since been cheekily dubbed, has sustained wind speeds of twenty miles per hour with occasional gusts up to twenty five and is causing the sea to become ‘quite choppy’ , accompanied by dank piss-congested skies.
Risking public scorn following the Met Office’s failed barbecue summer forecast, veteran forecaster, Thomas Schafernaker, was keen to warn the public against complacency:
‘There are some nasty fronts associated with this system and some areas could see up to two inches of rain, possibly three over higher ground ,where showers may have a bit of sleet mixed in, ‘ adding :
‘We’re keeping our eye on this one. That is to say - more than one eye - seeing as there are quite a few of us here.’
Meanwhile traffic has been building up on the A5 in Devon as people queue to flee the rain, some of which is expected to be “steady” or fall in “longer bursts”.
Thomas Carr of Bude, who was sat in a two-mile tailback, whinged : ‘I’m old enough to remember October last year when “Low 993” hit and resulted in our garden becoming severely waterlogged. And the wind was howling around our cottage so much that I could barely hear Christine Bleakely on the One Show. It’s certainly something that neither I nor my family should have to live through again.’
And with “Low 998” expected to cause some localised flooding in low-lying regions, a Rivers Authority spokesman said:
‘If you’re planning some kind of grandiose insurance scam, now’s the time to take the expensive stuff upstairs or leave it with a disreputable family member. ’