Gusts of up to 80mph are set to hit the country's shores as Storm Doris arrives from the Atlantic, the Met Office has said.

The storm will bring strong winds and heavy rain to North West England when it arrives on Thursday.

"We have got a fairly active area of low pressure coming in from the Atlantic," said Met Office forecaster Emma Sharples.

"It is strengthening as it moves eastwards to the UK," she added.

The Met Office's amber weather warning alerts people that "whilst the strongest winds look to be only short-lived, damage to structures, interruptions to power supplies and widespread disruption to travel networks are likely, with a danger of injury from flying debris".

Storm Doris is expected to move on quickly, with the worst of the weather gone by Thursday evening.

While further Atlantic gusts will bring more rain and wind through the weekend and into next week, they are not expected to reach the heights of Doris.

Storms with the potential to cause substantial impact are named by the Met Office and Met Eireann, moving through the alphabet.

The first was named Abigail in November 2015, after members of the public suggested monikers for the "name our storms" project.

The forecasters are now in their second run of the alphabet - after Doris, Britons can expect to hear of Storms Ewan, Fleur and Gabriel.

The Met Office previously issued a severe weather warning for Greater Manchester relating to Storm Doris earlier this month.