Snow, rain and high winds from Storm Gerrit have caused widespread disruption in Britain, with travellers warned of delays and potentially hazardous conditions on their way home from the Christmas holidays.

High winds arrived in northern France on Wednesday evening, with gusts of 115km/h recorded in Finistère, Brittany, and storm warnings remain in place on Thursday. 

Météo France has put seven départements in Brittany, Normandy and Hauts-de-France on early warning for high winds; Finistère, Morbihan, Côtes-d’Armor, Manche, Calvados, Pas-de-Calais and Nord.

On Wednesday winds of  115km/h were recorded in Ouessant, Finistère, 98 km/h in Boulogne, 95 km/h at Cap de la Hague and 92 km/h at Ile de Groix, in Morbihan, Brittany.

Winds are predicted to be as strong or stronger on Thursday, with stormy conditions likely to remain into the weekend.

Much of France will see heavy rain on Thursday.

Cross-Channel ferries could see delays because of the storm – DFDS says services are running with a 60-minute delay and advises passengers to follow its social media feeds for the latest information, while P&O reports that ferries are running on time.

On Wednesday, significant delays were reported at Dover because of “staff sickness within Police aux Frontières”, although traffic appeared to be flowing freely on Thursday morning.

The current wait time at the French border is 120 minutes. The additional processing time today is a result of staff sickness within Police aux Frontières. All teams are working hard to get everyone on their way as quickly as possible.

— Port of Dover Travel (@PoD_travelnews) December 27, 2023

Forecasters predict “strong gusts from Brittany to the Channel coast”, reaching the storm threshold of 100 km/h in western Brittany, and 80 km/h inland. In Normandy and Hauts-de-France, wind speeds will be between 70km/h and 80 km/h along the coast.

Météo France also warned that winds will remain strong, with gusts of up 50 90km/h, into Thursday and Friday, though it has not yet raised any alerts for those days. 

Later in the week, Météo France has said that “gale force winds” are possible across the northern half of France on New Year’s Eve, but forecasters have said that the models are not necessarily completely accurate this far out.