17th February - Today's News: Storm Dudley Hits Britain & Europe

More very windy weather in Britain:  Storm Eunice looms as Storm Dudley clear-up continues - and Eunice will be hitting southern parts, possibly with 100mph gusts, so a red warning looks very likely.   And there's already been more than eight million trees lost this winter in the UK, before this week.

And as Dudley moves east, high winds slam northern Germany whilst in the Netherlands, Storm Dudley brings down trees ahead of Eunice’s arrival on Friday.  

I see the EU have finally agreed to give the same name to storms in all countries, to avoid confusion, despite which, the Danes have renamed Eunice as Nora, since they claim Eunice is too difficult to pronounce.   And the Germans have still renamed Dudley as Ylenia ....   so we'll see how that works out - and whether the Germans (or others) start pre-empting storm names in order to get in first, ahead of the British ....

Meanwhile, thanks to climate change: Flooding is 'the new reality' in Wales

In Petrópolis: Deadly landslides wreak havoc in Brazilian city with nearly 100 reported dead.

Last month's Tonga volcano plume reached the mesosphere

And a silly story to end with as, allegedly, there's a 'mini tornado' spotted in the skies above Teesside as our region prepares for Storm Dudley - but very clearly from the picture it's actually a contrail!