Weather experts warn of second huge storm to hit length and breadth of UK

Forecasters say the next severe storm is now brewing in the North Atlantic and will bring with it cold air, snow and sleet as well as hurricane-strength winds from Monday evening.

They say next week's massive storm will affect the whole of the UK and will last through the whole of Tuesday and into Wednesday.

Weather experts say they cannot officially classify the storms as hurricanes because the severe weather systems have a cold core instead of a warm core, but the wind speeds are the same and they still carry the same destructive power.

Weather expert Tim Ballisty, a meteorologist at weather.com, said: "There are two main computer models that we use to forecast the weather and both are showing an intense area of low pressure that will swing in across the North Atlantic on Monday, last all day Tuesday and into Wednesday."

Ballisty described how the huge weather system will "stall out" over the UK and the forecasts show the area of low pressure, that brings severe winds and rain, will deepen and intensify across the whole of the UK and across to the west coast of France.

He explained: "What is interesting about this next storm is that the huge weather system that slammed into Scotland on Thursday was very constrained, its damage was limited to Scotland.

"However, next week's storm looks likely to cover the whole of the UK, it is tremendously wide and has a much broader scope to it.

"The winds may not be nudging 150 miles per hour (mph) again but it will certainly produce the same destructive power as Thursday's storm."

Ballisty said the forecasts showed the massive storm will arrive late on Monday with heavy rain across most parts of the country, followed by a very cold air mass, which will trigger sleet and snow.

The hurricane-force winds of at least 74mph will last through the whole of Tuesday and into Wednesday.

And Jonathan Powell of Positive Weather Solutions, who accurately warned of the huge scale of Thursday's storm earlier in the week, said they also had picked up the aggressive new storm in the Atlantic.

"This storm will affect the entire nation, Monday will be a complete wash-out and whereas Scotland took the last storm on the chin – this will hit the whole of the country square-on."

Ballisty explained that while the UK was in the icy grip of the Big Freeze this time last year, this year a change in the upper atmosphere meant the country would be prone to more wild weather and Atlantic storms.

"In 2011, there was what was known as the 'Greenland Block' that virtually created a traffic jam in the atmosphere – the Arctic air that normally progresses from West to East was forced to plunged Southward and created the Big Freeze across much of the northern hemisphere, including the East Coast of the US and much of Europe.

"However this year, there is no 'Greenland Block' so these weather system can freely pass from West to East unobstructed.

"These storms are all part of the seasonal change and look very likely to continue."