Midlands escapes the storms

Storms that rocked the south of the country are unlikely to hit the West Midlands, according to Express & Star weatherman John Warner.

Mr Warner said the region's weather would be fairly calm for the next few days but a bitterly cold winter was on the cards.

Wolverhampton will be cloudy with sunny intervals for the next five days with a maximum temperature of 12C (54F). The maximum wind speed is expected to be 14mph.

Mr Warner said: "There is not really any bad weather in the foreseeable future, but it will be rather cold next week and fairly wet but I don't think there will be any major storms.

"We have had a very kind autumn so far and it hasn't really rained since August."

"In the run-up to Christmas and beyond, the weather will be rather cold and dry. In January, February and March, it will be wet and windy." Mr Warner said people would have noticed the cooler weather this morning due to a bitter wind chill. The weather in the West Midlands today will be cloudy and cold with a few isolated showers, tomorrow will be cloudy with sunny intervals and a few light showers in the north.

He added: "August, September and October all had below-average rainfall and temperatures were half-a-degree higher than average."

The heavy rain and winds that hit the south were caused by a squall-line which swept across the country from the north-west. This squall-line had its origins in Hurricane Noel that hit Mexico last week.