Babak Belurs

Rabu, 27 Desember 2023

Mapped: Storm Gerrit weather warnings as snow rain and strong wind forecast - The Independent

A flurry of weather warnings are in place across the UK as Storm Gerrit lashes parts of the country with snow, wind and rain.

The warnings have been issued for Wednesday and Thursday, with winds of up to 70mph possible in some areas.

Click here for live updates on the storm.

Storm Gerrit was named by the Met Office on Tuesday and was forecast to bring heavy rain to many parts of the UK on Wednesday, with wintry hazards also likely, especially across northern Scotland.

Warnings for snow, wind and rain are in place across the UK

( Met Office)

People planning to travel back home after the Christmas holidays have been urged to take care on the roads.

Simon Partridge, a Met Office meteorologist, said wet and windy weather will cover “pretty much the whole of the UK”, with significant snowfall in parts of Scotland.

A yellow rain and snow warning is in place from 6am to 9pm across much of Scotland on Wednesday.

“There are wind warnings out for the south of England, across the English Channel coast,” Mr Partridge added.

“But we also have wind warnings in force for parts of western Wales, North West England, Northern Ireland, northern Scotland and the Northern Isles.”

He said only the central section of the UK does not have a wind warning.

‘Significant’ amount of snow forecast in Scotland

( Met Office)

Northern Ireland is covered by a wind and rain warning

( Met Office)

Wind warning areas can expect gusts of 50-60mph, with up to 70mph on high ground and exposed coasts.

“In terms of rain, we have rain warnings out for the whole of Northern Ireland, western Wales, North West England, and then there’s a combined sort of rain and snow warning for Scotland,” Mr Partridge said.

Rain in the warning areas is forecast to be between 40-60mm, with the potential for 70-90mm in the western hills of Wales and the western side of the Pennines.

Anywhere above 200 metres in Scotland and the Northern Isles is likely to see some snow, he added.

The storm is also forecast to hit Ireland, where an orange warning for rain has been issued on the southwest coast.

The warning covering Kerry and west Cork comes into effect at 8pm on Tuesday and will be in place throughout Wednesday, lifting at midnight.

Met Eireann said very heavy rain is expected overnight on Tuesday with intense heavy showers on Wednesday.

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2023-12-28 05:20:26Z
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Man fighting for life after multiple stabbings in city centre - Liverpool Echo

A man is fighting for his life after a stabbing in Liverpool city centre.

Three people were stabbed in an incident involving a large group of men. The stabbing is believed to have happened at around 5.30am on Wednesday, December 27.

Detectives found one man, in his 20s, with stab wounds near to the McDonald's at the junction of Church Street and Whitechapel. They gave the victim medical assistance before he was taken to hospital where he remains in a critical condition.

Two other men have also self-presented at hospital with stab wounds. One of the men, in his 20s, had a stab wound to the back and the second, also in his 20s, had a stab wound to the head. Officers believe that the stabbing is linked to an earlier incident involving a large group of men on Victoria Street.

A large cordon is in place in Liverpool city centre and a number of roads are cordoned off. Superintendent Helen Bennett said: "Urgent CCTV, witness and forensic enquiries are being carried out in the city centre and as such a large area has been cordoned off.

"It appears that a large disturbance took place on Victoria Street in which three people have been injured. We know that there were people in the city centre who may have witnessed the disturbance or possibly come to the assistance of the injured males and we would ask those people to come forward and speak to officers as soon as possible.

"Incidents such as are unacceptable and we will do everything within our powers to find the people responsible and bring them to justice. Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC or contact Crimestoppers UK anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting log 156 of 27th December."

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2023-12-27 08:23:00Z
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Mapped: Storm Gerrit weather warnings as snow rain and strong wind forecast - The Independent

A flurry of weather warnings are in place across the UK as Storm Gerrit lashes parts of the country with snow, wind and rain.

The warnings have been issued for Wednesday and Thursday, with winds of up to 70mph possible in some areas.

Click here for live updates on the storm.

Storm Gerrit was named by the Met Office on Tuesday and was forecast to bring heavy rain to many parts of the UK on Wednesday, with wintry hazards also likely, especially across northern Scotland.

Warnings for snow, wind and rain are in place across the UK

( Met Office)

People planning to travel back home after the Christmas holidays have been urged to take care on the roads.

Simon Partridge, a Met Office meteorologist, said wet and windy weather will cover “pretty much the whole of the UK”, with significant snowfall in parts of Scotland.

A yellow rain and snow warning is in place from 6am to 9pm across much of Scotland on Wednesday.

“There are wind warnings out for the south of England, across the English Channel coast,” Mr Partridge added.

“But we also have wind warnings in force for parts of western Wales, North West England, Northern Ireland, northern Scotland and the Northern Isles.”

He said only the central section of the UK does not have a wind warning.

‘Significant’ amount of snow forecast in Scotland

( Met Office)

Northern Ireland is covered by a wind and rain warning

( Met Office)

Wind warning areas can expect gusts of 50-60mph, with up to 70mph on high ground and exposed coasts.

Rain in the warning areas is forecast to be between 40-60mm, with the potential for 70-90mm in the western hills of Wales and the western side of the Pennines.

Anywhere above 200 metres in Scotland and the Northern Isles is likely to see some snow, he added.

The storm is also forecast to hit Ireland, where an orange warning for rain has been issued on the southwest coast.

The warning covering Kerry and west Cork comes into effect at 8pm on Tuesday and will be in place throughout Wednesday, lifting at midnight.

Met Eireann said very heavy rain is expected overnight on Tuesday with intense heavy showers on Wednesday.

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2023-12-27 08:03:31Z
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Selasa, 26 Desember 2023

Climate change: Seasonal shifts causing 'chaos' for UK nature - BBC

Red Deer on National Trust's Holnicote Estate on Exmoor

By Justin Rowlatt and Harriet Bradshaw

BBC News Climate and Science

The loss of predictable weather patterns is "causing chaos" for nature, according to the National Trust.

It warns climate change is upsetting the regular rhythm of the seasons, making plants and wildlife more susceptible to disease.

The effects can be seen across the estates the National Trust manages.

This seasonal "baseline shift" is disrupting the annual behaviours of animals in particular but also impacting trees and plants, it said.

"The incremental shifts we're experiencing in terms of our seasons extending may not feel like much in a 12-month period, but over a decade the changes are extremely significant", said Ben McCarthy, head of Nature and Restoration Ecology at the National Trust.

2023 saw a series of temperature records, with the warmest June and highest sea temperatures ever recorded around the coast of the UK.

An unusually warm winter allowed pests and diseases to thrive.

Meanwhile low water levels in rivers, lakes and reservoirs - caused by a lack of rain coupled with the high temperatures - has been a factor in increased algal blooms.

On some occasions this has led to mass fish deaths as oxygen levels crash, causing them to suffocate.

And there were dramatic storms too, with storms Babet and Ciaran damaging landscapes and coastlines around the country.

You may have noticed the impact the changes in the seasons are having in the parks around your home or in your garden.

Grass needs to be mowed much later into the year, for example.

The National Trust rangers and gardeners report it's because of the increasingly warm and wet conditions at its sites in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Warm temperatures have also prompted some shrubs to come into bloom early, making them susceptible to sudden cold snaps - affecting pollinators, and the birds that feed on their seeds.

The UK's most iconic tree, the oak, could be particularly hard hit by the rising year-round temperatures, Mr McCarthy warns.

Cold snaps are getting shorter, which often doesn't leave enough time to kill off diseases.

For example, the oak processionary moth, whose caterpillars infest oak trees, thrive in these shorter cold spells making the oaks more vulnerable to attack from other parasites, he says.

The moth species has been migrating steadily northwards through Europe from their traditional home in the Mediterranean as the continent's climate warms.

Warmer winters could also impact our heathlands, the Trust says, allowing the heather beetle to take hold, killing off huge areas of the plant.

Animals which hibernate, like dormice, are especially threatened. They emerge from their winter sleep earlier and can quickly use up their vital remaining stores of energy.

Rangers have noted that red deer in some areas are becoming sexually active later in the year, so calves are born in the autumn rather than the summer.

"They're unable to get the fat reserves on to get them through the winters," Simon Powne, National Trust Wildlife Manager at Holnicote Estate explains.

"These weather conditions take the heat and energy out of anything and they're just not capable of surviving. So we're seeing a higher mortality rate."

But the UK has got off relatively lightly in terms of extreme weather in recent years compared to other countries, says Keith Jones, the National Climate Change consultant at the National Trust.

He points to the searing temperatures and heatwaves that have devastated parts of Europe this year and warns the UK is likely to experience increasingly extreme weather in years to come.

"We can't allow ourselves to be lulled into any sense of false security. In the near future we are likely to experience a combination of drought and high temperatures as well as high rainfall and floods - and we need to get ready for this new "norm", Mr Jones says.

We can build increased resilience into the UK's landscapes and ecosystems, the Trust says.

One example is the effort to return a Somerset river to how it was before humans started interfering with it.

Over the years the course of the river Aller on the Holnicote Estate in Somerset had been straightened and deepened. Now, it's free again to meander. A 1.2km long section has been filled in, with the water being left to find its own path through the floodplain, creating more than seven hectares of wetland.

The aim is to slow the river's flow, allowing more water to be held in the landscape.

"Let the water do what it wants to do," explains Jo Neville, the National Trust's Water Advisor for Southern England and Wales. "And what it wants to do is make this amazing habitat with channels all the way through the landscape, pools, ponds, wetlands."

The project will help combat flooding and drought, as well as increasing the diversity of wildlife. What is more, this new boggy landscape can store more carbon over time.

"At Holnicote we literally saw more nature move back in, within just three months of the project's completion as this new complex waterscape started to "bed in" and thrive," explains Mr McCarthy.

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2023-12-27 04:46:11Z
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Mapped: Storm Gerrit weather warnings as snow rain and strong wind forecast - The Independent

A flurry of weather warnings are in place across the UK as Storm Gerrit lashes parts of the country with snow, wind and rain.

The warnings have been issued for Wednesday and Thursday, with winds of up to 70mph possible in some areas.

Storm Gerrit was named by the Met Office on Tuesday and was forecast to bring heavy rain to many parts of the UK on Wednesday, with wintry hazards also likely, especially across northern Scotland.

People planning to travel back home after the Christmas holidays have been urged to take care on the roads.

Simon Partridge, a Met Office meteorologist, said wet and windy weather will cover “pretty much the whole of the UK”, with significant snowfall in parts of Scotland.

Warnings for snow, wind and rain are in place across the UK

( Met Office)

A yellow rain and snow warning is in place from 6am to 9pm across much of Scotland on Wednesday.

“There are wind warnings out for the south of England, across the English Channel coast,” Mr Partridge added.

“But we also have wind warnings in force for parts of western Wales, North West England, Northern Ireland, northern Scotland and the Northern Isles.”

He said only the central section of the UK does not have a wind warning.

‘Significant’ amount of snow forecast in Scotland

( Met Office)

Northern Ireland is covered by a wind and rain warning

( Met Office)

Wind warning areas can expect gusts of 50-60mph, with up to 70mph on high ground and exposed coasts.

Rain in the warning areas is forecast to be between 40-60mm, with the potential for 70-90mm in the western hills of Wales and the western side of the Pennines.

Anywhere above 200 metres in Scotland and the Northern Isles is likely to see some snow, he added.

The storm is also forecast to hit Ireland, where an orange warning for rain has been issued on the southwest coast.

The warning covering Kerry and west Cork comes into effect at 8pm on Tuesday and will be in place throughout Wednesday, lifting at midnight.

Met Eireann said very heavy rain is expected overnight on Tuesday with intense heavy showers on Wednesday.

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2023-12-27 04:49:01Z
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Grace Millane's mother wants to 'make the world a better place' - BBC

By Charlie Jones

BBC News, Essex

Grace Millane had dreamed of travelling the world since she was a little girl.

"I found a school project she did about New Zealand and it said 'I'm going there one day'. And she did get there," her mother Gillian says, proudly.

Growing up in Wickford in Essex, Grace was a livewire who made friends wherever she went.

"She was my best friend, we would always disappear to the pub for a quick drink and we would go away on holiday together," Gillian says.

Five years ago, after graduating from the University of Lincoln, Grace set out on a year-long solo backpacking adventure across the world.

After a six-week tour of Peru, she arrived in New Zealand. Less than a fortnight later, on the eve of her 22nd birthday, she was strangled to death by a man she met on a dating app.

Grace was constantly in touch with her family but had not responded to their birthday messages on 2 December, so they reported her missing to the police.

Gillian was recovering from surgery for breast cancer and not able to join the search. Her husband, Grace's father David, flew out to New Zealand but a week later, their daughter's body was found in bushland on the outskirts of Auckland.

During a three-week trial, the family had to sit through her killer's attempts to pass the murder off as "rough sex" gone wrong and his claims that Grace asked to be strangled.

"I felt like Grace was on trial and she couldn't defend herself. As a parent, I didn't want to listen to that. It was horrendous.

"You can't ask for your own death. It is ludicrous this can be used as a defence."

A jury unanimously convicted him of murder and he was sentenced to life in prison.

The family decided never to mention his name again. "We never say it. It's a waste of energy. I don't care about him, I don't think about him," Gillian says.

Gillian has since campaigned against the rough sex defence, with the charity We Can't Consent To This, and has helped to change the law in England and Wales.

Two years after Grace's murder, Gillian's husband David died from cancer, which left her in a "really dark place".

Gillian credits her family and friends, long walks and "lots of counselling" for her still being here today.

"I did contemplate suicide. That is a horrid place to be. But I couldn't bring any more sadness to the family. Grace had such a bright future and it was taken away from her and us.

"I will never see Grace in a wedding dress or see her grandchildren. This is a life sentence I've got. This is me until the day I die. But there is a light and I found it. You have to find that inner strength."

David died during Covid and they could not be together as a family but Gillian later threw a memorial party and it became a turning point.

"A friend dragged me up to dance. I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do but I laughed and I looked around the room and everyone was smiling.

"My toes stay in the darkness but the rest of me is facing the sun a bit. Sometimes it goes up to my waist and I do go into that black hole but I have people behind me who support me."

Christmas is a very difficult time for Gillian, so last year she decided to spend it climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, which was "incredibly emotional".

Gillian Millane at the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro

"I went from not wanting to leave the house to climbing a mountain on the other side of the world.

"I had to train and be focused. I didn't realise the power it was giving me and how much it was helping me.

"Everything was aching but I knew Grace and David would be pushing me up there. They wanted to still be here, they didn't want to go, so I thought 'right get up there'."

Gillian left a stone for Grace and David at the top, in tribute to them.

"Whenever I go somewhere special, I put the stones there, so they are travelling. If someone picks a stone up and moves it, they go somewhere else."

Stones left by Gillian Millane on Mount Kilimanjaro

Her efforts raised £33,000 for the White Ribbon charity, which aims to end male violence against women. Gillian received a thank you card from the charity, saying the money had been used to fund education programmes in 65 schools in the Hull area.

"I just want to raise awareness and get that message out there about violence against women so that no other family has to live this life I live," Gillian says.

Four years ago, with her niece Hannah, Gillian started the charity initiative Love Grace. They collect donated handbags and fill them with toiletries for domestic abuse victims.

So far, they have filled 15,600 bags for women in the UK and across the world and they received an award from the prime minister.

Hannah O'Callaghan and Gillian Millane outside 10 Downing Street

Grace loved handbags, Gillian says, and each bag has a tag on it with her handwriting.

"It's a simple idea but it has really taken off," Gillian says. "We were just doing it for our grief so that Grace would never just be a number.

"They get this bag, they are not expecting it and they have gone through hell. We get hundreds of letters from people who have received the bags, it's heartbreaking."

a Love Grace tag on a bag showing Grace's handwriting

Next year, Gillian is applying for Love Grace to become an official charity and she will be training for a trek to Everest basecamp in September, with a plan to place two more stones there.

One day she hopes to travel to New Zealand, a country which Gillian says has really taken Grace to their hearts.

"I still get loads of messages of support from there. It wasn't New Zealand or travelling that killed Grace, or anything she did. It was that individual."

Five years on from her daughter's death, living without Grace has not got any easier. But Gillian is still trying hard to face the sun.

"I should never have buried my child and certainly she should never have died the way she did. People keep saying I'm really strong but I don't think so, I'm just a mum."

She adds: "I am more resilient than I ever thought I was. I do think David and Grace would be proud. I think Grace would laugh and say these treks are a mid-life crisis.

"I will never get over it but I just know I've got to make the world a better place. I want to change things so that no other family has to go through what we go through. That has got to be a good thing."

If you, or someone you know, is feeling emotionally distressed, BBC Action Line has put together a list of organisations which can help.

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830

Babak Belurs

Rabu, 27 Desember 2023

Mapped: Storm Gerrit weather warnings as snow rain and strong wind forecast - The Independent

Man fighting for life after multiple stabbings in city centre - Liverpool Echo

Mapped: Storm Gerrit weather warnings as snow rain and strong wind forecast - The Independent

Selasa, 26 Desember 2023

Climate change: Seasonal shifts causing 'chaos' for UK nature - BBC

Related Topics

Mapped: Storm Gerrit weather warnings as snow rain and strong wind forecast - The Independent

Grace Millane's mother wants to 'make the world a better place' - BBC

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Man arrested on suspicion of drink driving after Christmas Day crash leaves five people badly hurt - Manchester Evening News

Rabu, 27 Desember 2023

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Selasa, 26 Desember 2023

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