Thursday’s note is the stable account of the name. The Met Office press note, timed 11:19 (UTC+1) on 22 October 2026, said a deep low would bring impactful winds on Saturday night and through Sunday to northern parts of the UK, reaching Northern Ireland and western Scotland on Saturday afternoon. Heavy rain would move in from the west through Saturday and spread widely. Deputy chief forecaster Chris Bulmer said gusts of 70 to 80 mph were possible in exposed coastal areas and on high ground, with 50 to 60 mph more widely, and that the strong winds would come with heavy rain. He also said the warnings would keep developing, so the live map beats Thursday’s paragraph. The same note said Austen would clear into the North Sea by Friday evening, then a brief ridge of higher pressure overnight Friday into Saturday, then rain again through Saturday for most of the UK. By Sunday, Boelo would still be windy and wet further north, while much of England and Wales would be brighter, largely dry and still blustery.
The clocks in that note were specific, and they have already moved once. Thursday’s yellow for the whole of mainland Scotland, the Western Isles, Orkney and the far north of England ran from 1800 Saturday to 2100 Sunday, with gusts of 55 to 65 mph widely and up to 70 to 80 mph on exposed coasts. A separate Northern Ireland yellow ran from 1800 Saturday to 1500 Sunday, with 50 to 60 mph widely and up to 65 to 75 mph in exposed places. On Friday 23 October, warning pages such as the ones for Sunderland and Argyll were marked updated at 10:01, with the reason given as the start time brought forward and the area extended further south. The yellow text on the Sunderland page then ran from Saturday midday to 9pm on Sunday. The area list on that page reached well beyond the far north: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Sunderland, York, Leeds, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Derby all sat inside regions named there. An amber wind warning on the Argyll page ran from 9pm Saturday to 9pm Sunday, with fairly widespread gusts of 60 to 70 mph and gusts to 80 mph in exposed coastal areas. It said the strongest winds would start over western Scotland and the far north of Northern Ireland on Saturday evening, then spread east overnight and through Sunday. The national warnings page was also carrying a notice that the service was having trouble and that warnings might be out of date. Treat Friday morning’s pages as a reason to look again, not as a promise that midday is your deadline.
What still counts after the warning moves
Open the warning for your own postcode before you decide the morning is free. The Met Office warnings guide says the colour mixes how severe the impacts may be with how likely they are, and that yellow covers a range. Amber on the Argyll page was the higher-confidence slice: significant impacts, likelihood high, starting Saturday evening in the west and north. A yellow that now reaches Manchester or Nottingham is not the same instruction as an amber over Glasgow or County Antrim, and neither colour tells you whether your street has a loose ridge tile. If the live text for your postcode is already in force when you read this, skip the pavement and stay with the jobs you can finish from the hall. If it has been dropped, you still do not need a ladder. The storm centre is the place the name and the dates sit together.
Friday’s rain is part of the Saturday job, even where Friday’s worst wind was further south. The same Thursday note issued a yellow rain warning for southern and eastern Scotland from 0600 Friday to midnight Friday, with 20 to 40 mm widely and 60 to 80 mm possible in some spots. A house inside that rain area may already have a blocked gully or a tile on the lawn before Boelo arrives. Water coming through a ceiling is the roof-leak page, dealt with from a dry room. Water pooled at a door you can see from inside is the surface-water page. This page is the gap between those two storms, not a second copy of either.
Write two numbers on paper on Saturday morning and keep the paper with a torch. In England, Scotland and Wales, 105 is the free power-cut line. In Northern Ireland, NIE Networks publishes 03457 643 643. A router that has died with the lights cannot look either number up.
What Saturday morning is still for
The useful hours are the ridge, then the early part of Saturday, before the wind builds. Thursday’s note put that ridge overnight Friday into Saturday, with rain spreading through Saturday and the wind strengthening through the day. The Friday amber text put the first of the strongest winds over western Scotland and the far north of Northern Ireland on Saturday evening, then spreading east overnight and through Sunday. If that amber includes Glasgow, County Antrim or the west, Saturday afternoon is already late. Edinburgh, Aberdeen and other places named in the eastward spread still do the morning list, because Sunday is not the quiet end of it. If you are in Leeds, Manchester or Newcastle and only the wider yellow covers you, you may have longer on Saturday, and you may not: the Friday update moved a start time earlier once already. Do the short list while the path is still walkable. Do not save it for a gap in the rain on Saturday night.
Two other jobs share that morning, and each already has its own page. Garden furniture, bins, pots, the trampoline and a locked shed door are on the Met Office list in the Thursday note, and the steps sit on the garden page. Do them if the garden is still safe to be in. Do not start them once your warning has begun. The clocks go back at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026. In the north, 2am Sunday is inside the overnight wind, not after it. A programmer left on summer time can fire an hour early while you are dealing with a dark street. Set it on Saturday morning from the heating-clock page, in daylight, with the power still on. If the board is already dark, leave the programmer alone until the supply is back and you can see the buttons. This page does not repeat the daylight-saving steps.
Chief forecaster Neil Armstrong, in that same Thursday note, said Friday’s wind in the south was the first stormy spell of the season there, and that trees still in leaf made fallen branches and trees more likely to block roads. The leaves have not dropped by Saturday. A car under a full crown is the same problem in Edinburgh as it was in Exeter. Put the car in the garage if it fits, and fasten the garage door. If it does not fit, move it clear of the house, the trees, the walls and the fences where you already have that space. Do not drive around looking for a space once the warning has started. The Met Office storm advice says not to travel unless the journey is really necessary, and to stay indoors as much as possible once the wind is up.
What you can finish without a ladder
One circuit, in daylight, from inside and then from your own path or the opposite pavement. You are latching what already has a fastening, and you are writing one sentence for a call after the warning. You are not surveying the roof. Missing tiles after rain, seen from the ground, belong with the ground-level roof check. A ladder against the wall is something the wind can throw. Bring it in and leave it there.
- Read the live warning for your postcode. If it is already in force, or it tells you to stay in, stop at the jobs you can do from the hall. Do not go out for a look because Saturday morning still sounds early.
- Latch the windows and the doors you can reach from inside, including the garage door if you have one. Close the loft hatch and shoot the bolt if it has one. The fasten page has the shallow-roof detail. If you do not know the pitch, still close the hatch. Do not go onto the roof to measure it.
- If the car fits in the garage, put it in. If it does not, move it clear of trees, walls, fences and the house where that space already exists. Trees are still in leaf.
- If the path is dry enough to walk, look once from the pavement. Photograph a tile, slate or ridge piece that is already down, from a spot that is not under the eaves. Leave the piece where it lies if picking it up puts you under the roof edge.
- If a ground-level gully is full of leaves and you can lift the cover without kneeling in deep water, the gully page is that job. If the rain has already started, or the cover is in the road, leave it. Saturday’s rain was forecast to be widespread. A blocked grate is not a reason to stand in a flow you cannot see the bottom of.
- Bring loose bins, pots and furniture in, or secure them, and lock the shed, using the garden page. Turn a trampoline only if you can do it without it taking you. If the wind has already started, that list is over.
- Charge the phone, put batteries in a torch, and park the written numbers next to it. The government’s Prepare page on power cuts says a torch is safer than candles, and that the torch on a phone runs the battery down.
- If you use a heating programmer, do the clock-change check on Saturday morning from the heating-clock page. Two o’clock on Sunday morning is the wrong time to learn the buttons, in the dark, in a gale.
Tenants can latch windows, close the hatch, charge a phone and move a bed out of a room under a stack they already know is cracked. A new bolt, a garage-door spring or a chimney repair belongs to the landlord or the owner. Tell them what you could see, in daylight, and leave the tools alone. Owner-occupiers on a short terrace still fasten their own door. A shared close does not make the loft hatch a neighbour’s job.
| What you can see | Do on Saturday morning | Who you ring later |
|---|---|---|
| A tile, slate or ridge piece already on the ground or in a gutter you can see from below | Photograph it from a safe spot. Leave it if lifting it puts you under the eaves. Do not ask anyone to climb while the warning is in force | A roofer, and say a piece was down before Boelo, not during it. Water indoors now is the leak page, today |
| A chimney pot off square, seen from the opposite pavement | Move beds from the room below if you can do that from inside. Stay off the stack | A roofer, or a builder if they tell you the failed part is the masonry. Describe the lean. Do not ask for a scaffold as the wind arrives |
| A soffit board hanging, or a dish swinging on its cable | Stay clear. Do not pull the cable to test it | A roofer for the board. An aerial fitter or an electrician for the dish, once it is clear of any supply cable |
| A fence panel loose, or a bin still in the side return | Secure it only if you can do that without standing where the panel would fall. The storm advice says a failed wall or fence falls onto the sheltered side | A fencing firm after the wind, if it has already failed. The garden page covers the before list |
| The sea wall, a promenade, or shingle against a coastal door | Stay indoors and well back. Do not go down to look, and do not clear beach material in the wind | After the warning, a builder if the fabric of the house is damaged. In an emergency on the shore, 999 and ask for the Coastguard |
A piece already on the lawn changes the later call from a routine booking to as soon as they can attend safely. It does not make a ladder safe on Saturday evening, and it does not make a same-day climb a sensible request. Say you have stayed on the ground. Ask whether the visit is after the warning has cleared. Ask whether the figure is plus VAT. If the live warning covers your postcode, open the city list and use the number on the card: roofing in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Belfast and Newcastle for the north the Thursday note named, and Manchester, Leeds, York or Hull if Friday’s wider yellow includes you. Anywhere else, use the same pattern under roofing. Pound ranges for a whole new roof, where this site has them, sit on the new-roof cost note. That note is not a price for picking up one slate, and it is not a call-out fee.
Coastal houses need a harder stop than an inland terrace. Thursday’s note said the strong winds would bring large waves and dangerous conditions, in the Austen section, around Wales and south-west England, and told people to stay away from cliff edges and well back from seas that can sweep you off your feet. The same rule is the one to use on the Saturday night coasts that Boelo actually hits: the west of Scotland, exposed parts of the north, and the north coast of Northern Ireland. Do not walk a promenade to see the waves. Do not clear shingle off a step while it is still blowing. The worked example for that mistake, written for Austen’s southern seafronts, is the shingle page. The instruction does not change because the name of the low has changed. If someone is in the water or on a cliff in trouble, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
If the lights go out on Saturday night
Amber text expects a good chance of power cuts. Yellow does not promise your street stays on. The useful split is whose power has failed. The Met Office power-cut page says to look at the neighbours. If they are dark as well, do not assume the network operator already knows. Call. In England, Scotland and Wales, 105 is free and connects you to the local distribution operator, the company that owns the cables, which is not the company named on your bill. In Northern Ireland, the number published for a loss of supply is 03457 643 643. Write it down before dark. Internet routers and some digital landlines stop when the power stops.
If the neighbours still have lights, the Met Office page says the fault is likely to be the fuses or trip switches in your own home. If you already know the board, it is dry, and there is no smell of burning, one reset of the switch that has tripped is the check. If it trips again, stop. If you have never opened the board, or you can smell burning, or the cupboard is wet from a leak, leave it closed. An electrician is the right call once it is safe to be at the door. The number is on a card under electrical, with city lists such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Belfast and Newcastle. You ring. This site does not pass the job on.
A cable down in the road or across a garden is a different call again. The Met Office after-storm list says not to touch electrical or telephone cables that have been blown down or are still hanging. Keep well clear, keep other people clear, call 105 in Great Britain or 03457 643 643 in Northern Ireland, and dial 999 if someone is in immediate danger. A dish that has landed next to that cable is not a souvenir. Leave it.
While you wait, switch off appliances that would be dangerous if the power returned while you were out of the room: irons, ovens, electric fires and fryers. Leave one light switched on so you can see when the supply returns. Keep the fridge and freezer shut. Torches, not candles. If someone in the house depends on electricity for medical or mobility equipment, the same Met Office page points to the Priority Services Register. Joining it on Saturday morning is preparation. It does not switch the street back on. If you smell gas, leave the house, avoid switches, and use the National Gas Emergency number on the Met Office page, 0800 111 999. A power cut does not make a gas hob a safe heater. A combi boiler stops when the power stops, and restarting it is not a job for the fuse board. Use the power-cut boiler page once the lights are back, and if the boiler still will not fire, ring a plumbing and heating business and check the card shows Gas Safe before you book gas work. City lists include Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Newcastle, or plumbing and heating for anywhere else. The carbon monoxide alarm check is the page for the alarm itself, and it wants a working battery before the night, not during it.
Do not go outside to catch a tile, a bin or a swinging aerial while the warning for your postcode is in force. Repairs wait until the wind has passed. Keep away from the sheltered side of a wall or fence that is failing, and keep away from the shore.
When this check is over
Some findings end the list. Put the torch down and use the other instruction.
- The live warning for your postcode is already in force, or it has been raised above the text you read on Saturday morning. Stay indoors. Follow that warning, not a pavement walk written the day before.
- Water is coming through a ceiling, a light fitting, or a roof window. Move to the roof-leak page. Closing the front door does not stop that water.
- You smell gas, or you smell burning at the consumer unit. Leave the relevant hazard alone. Gas is 0800 111 999 from outside. Burning at the board is an electrician when you can safely meet them, and 999 if the house is on fire or someone is in danger.
- The only way to see the fault is a ladder, a roof window you would have to climb out of, or a walk along a parapet or a sea wall. Stop. Photograph from the pavement if you can do that without standing under the eaves.
- A cable is on the ground or hanging lower than usual. Stay clear and use 105, or 03457 643 643 in Northern Ireland.
- You are on the coast and the waves are already on the road or the promenade. Go indoors. Do not clear shingle. Coastguard emergencies are 999.
After the wind, the storm page asks you to be careful near walls, buildings and trees, because they can have been weakened, and to check on neighbours who may need help arranging a repair. That repair is still their phone call or yours. Sunday can still be windy in the north while much of England and Wales turns brighter. A cleared warning in Leeds is not a cleared warning in the Western Isles. A tile in the garden once your own warning has ended is a roofer. A house that is dark when the rest of the street is lit is an electrician. A street that is dark is 105. The contact-details page shows how to reach a business yourself.
What to say when you do ring
On a roofing call, say which elevation, what was already on the ground on Saturday morning, and that you have not been on the roof. Say whether water is indoors now or only a piece is missing. Ask them to attend after the warning if nothing is coming in, and ask whether the first figure is plus VAT. On an electrical call, say whether the neighbours have power, whether you reset a switch once, and whether there is a smell of burning. If the aerial is down and clear of any supply cable, say that too. If it is not clear of a cable, you are still on 105, not on a directory card.
A builder is the right conversation when the chimney stack itself is the failed part and a roofer has told you the job is masonry rather than a slipped pot, or when a coastal door or wall has been hit by beach material and the warning has cleared. Say what you could see from the pavement, and that beds have been moved if they have. Do not ask for a scaffold in the hour the warning starts. A heating engineer is the right conversation when the power is back and the boiler still will not fire. Say the street is lit, the programmer has not been opened in the dark, and you want someone who is Gas Safe for gas work. Prices on this site, where a page exists, are ranges for whole jobs such as a new roof. They are not a quote for your stack, and they are not a call-out fee for Sunday.
Questions that change the call
Is Storm Boelo the same storm as Storm Austen?
No. The Met Office note timed 11:19 on Thursday 22 October 2026 said Boelo is a separate area of low pressure from Austen. Austen was the wind and rain for the south of England and Wales on Thursday night and Friday, clearing into the North Sea by Friday evening. Boelo was named for Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of northern England over the weekend. A Glasgow tenement is not repeating Friday’s southern checklist under a new name. A house in Exeter is not inside Boelo just because the news has moved on.
Does the wind start at 6pm on Saturday?
Thursday’s naming note put one yellow warning from 1800 Saturday to 2100 Sunday for mainland Scotland, the Western Isles, Orkney and the far north of England, and a separate Northern Ireland yellow from 1800 Saturday to 1500 Sunday. On Friday 23 October, Met Office warning pages were updated at 10:01, with the start brought forward and the area extended further south. One yellow text then ran from Saturday midday to 9pm on Sunday. Read the live warning for your postcode. If that warning is already in force, the Saturday morning jobs on this page are finished.
The clocks go back on Sunday. Can that wait until the wind has passed?
Clocks go back at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026. In the north, that hour sits inside the overnight wind. Set the heating programmer on Saturday morning, while you still have daylight and power, using the heating-clock page. This page does not repeat those programmer steps. Leaving the clock until Sunday afternoon is the fallback only if Saturday morning has already gone and the supply is still on.
Need a number after the wind drops?
Open the list, pick the city, and contact the business yourself.