THE region could be battered by winds of up to 70mph on Friday as Storm Doris moves in from the Atlantic.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for Greater Manchester for Friday, February 3, with the possibility of damage to buildings and travel disruption.

A Met Office spokesman said: “There is the potential for very strong winds to cross parts of England and Wales on Friday, with gusts of 60 to 70 mph in places and perhaps over 80 mph in exposed coastal areas.

“There remains considerable uncertainty around the developments. If such winds were to occur, we would expect damage to trees and perhaps to buildings, possible disruption to power supplies, as well as delayed travel.”

The Met Office chief forecaster added: “A number of potentially vigorous low pressure systems are likely to move quickly towards northwest Europe later this week. One of these, on Friday, may affect parts of southern parts of the UK.

“However it is worth stressing that there are scenarios in which the strongest winds miss the UK. Even so, spells of wet and windy weather will affect many areas later this week.”