Motorists were warned to brace for difficult travel conditions this morning with gusts of up to 65mph expected as the Met Office imposed two yellow warnings.
Strong winds could lead to road, rail, air and ferry delays with those in affected areas advised to prepare for longer journeys and pay extra attention to road conditions.
A warning covering large parts of northern England, including Sheffield and Leeds, and a small area of southern Scotland began at 3am today and runs until 2pm. Gusts of 50 to 60mph are possible and potentially higher in more exposed places.
A separate warning for northern and western Wales and parts of North West England started at 3pm yesterday and expires at 9am today. The Met Office expecting gusts of 45 to 55mph fairly widely with 65mph in a few places, particularly along the coast.
An earlier larger warning area covered Northern Ireland and Scotland but this was cancelled at 2am today, with the focus instead on Wales and North West England.
And the strong winds led to the closure of the M48 Severn Bridge in both directions this morning with traffic being diverted via the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge.
In South East Wales, Gwent Police briefly closed the B4269 between Llanellen and Llanfoist early this morning, with the road reopening at about 6.15am.
ScotRail said severe weather meant trains had to run at a reduced speed between Glasgow Queen Street and Mallaig due to a speed restriction on the route.
And Transport for Wales warned that a tree blocking the line between Llandrindod and Knighton was delaying trains running between Shrewsbury and Lllanelli.
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company said its overnight ferry service from Heysham in Lancashire to Douglas was cancelled, but remaining services today were expected to operate as normal.
CalMac Ferries, which serves the west coast of Scotland, said services were subject to disruption today.
And the Met Office warned that windy weather would continue over the next few days, adding: ‘The active jet stream will meander across the UK steering deeps areas of low pressure in our direction.’
But parts of Britain will also experience very mild weather for the time of year today, with highs of up to 15C (59F) expected in South East England. The temperature in Cardiff was 14C (57F) at 7am this morning.
This is above Rome, Barcelona and Nice which will all get up 13C (55F) today, and Madrid at 9C (48F).
Temperatures in the UK will then drop again tomorrow with maximums of 9C (48F) on the way – and again on Friday, as conditions remain ‘changeable and often windy’ into the weekend.
The latest warnings come as many communities recover from the devastating effects of Storm Darragh earlier this month.
The fourth named storm of the season saw millions told to stay indoors, tens of thousands left without power and trains axed.