According to the Met Office, yellow and amber warnings represent a range of impact levels and likelihoods. The impacts can include damage to property, travel delays and cancellations, loss of water supplies, power cuts, and, in the most severe cases, danger to life.

The warning is only issued in the event of extreme weather.The Met Office has issued a rare red weather warning for Scotland this week.It comes as Storm Éowyn approaches the country, with Scottish weather presenter Judith Ralston calling it “one major storm” and saying: “I’ve not seen anything like it in my career”.

Storm Éowyn is forecast to make landfall in Ireland late on Thursday before moving on to the rest of the UK on Friday according to Met Office models. The storm will bring gusts of 80mph to coastal areas and 60mph inland with potential for a danger to life caused by flying debris.