A1(M) closed southbound in County Durham as Storm Otto batters the North East

National Highways: North-East has Tweeted that the southbound carriageway is closed due to two overturned vehicles.

Otto, the first storm to be named this winter, was labelled by the Danish Meteorological Institute and is expected to bring disruption across the North East and Scotland today, Friday, February 17.

TransPennine Express has warned customers to check their route before they travel, adding that trains between Berwick and Edinburgh will move at reduced speeds in response to the weather.

Damage warning

The storm will move east throughout the day, bringing gusts in excess of 75mph.

The Met Office has said the high winds will mean travel disruption and possible damage to buildings in places and warned the drivers of high-sided vehicles to be careful.

It said there is also a danger of large waves on the North Sea coast ‘as well as a chance of some damage to buildings and infrastructure’.

Yellow weather warnings for wind have been issued for the whole of Scotland and a stretch of north and North East England from Sheffield to the borders.

The warning for Scotland runs from until today Friday and for England until 2pm.

Rain to come

Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page said: “Storm Otto will bring high winds and rain to the UK, with some northern parts of Scotland and the North East of England likely to get the strongest gusts of wind. Warnings have been issued and could be updated as Storm Otto develops.

“There’s a chance of travel disruption and high-sided vehicles could be particularly prone to disrupted plans in this set-up.

“There’s associated rain with Storm Otto, with 40-50mm of rain likely to fall over parts of western Scotland.”

Denmark is expected to bear the brunt of the storm on Friday afternoon, leading the Danes to name the system, which has now been adopted by the Met Office in line with the international storm-naming arrangements.

Otto is the first named storm to directly impact the UK this storm-naming season, which began in September.

The first storm named by the Met Office, or the Irish and Dutch weather services this season will still be Storm Antoni, in accordance with the 2022/23 storm name list.