Storm Isha could endanger lives and damage buildings as winds of up to 80mph and heavy rain arrive in the UK this weekend, the Met Office has warned. The forecaster officially named the storm on Friday and has issued amber weather warnings for wind for northern and western England, Wales, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland from Sunday into Monday. South-westerly winds of up to 80mph could hit exposed coasts and there could be gusts of up to 60mph inland. Forecasters said there was a risk to life in coastal areas from large waves and debris blown inland, while flooding is likely in most of the rest of the UK, with yellow warnings for wind and rain in place for Sunday. The amber wind warnings also indicate potential power cuts, loss of mobile phone signal in affected areas, shut roads and bridges and rail and bus services delays and cancellations. A dry, sunny and cold Friday and Saturday morning will segue into warmer temperatures, with highs of 12C possible on Sunday. An area of low pressure moving in from the Atlantic will also bring heavy rain across northern England, where 30-50mm could fall in many places and there is potential for peaks of 80-100mm over hills on Sunday. Flooding and transport disruption due to rain is also anticipated on Sunday in Scotland, Wales and north-west England. The Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill, in an online forecast, said weekend temperatures were going to be much higher than they have been: “Quite widely we could see places reaching highs of 12C-13C but we need to factor in the strong winds, the rain, the cloud, and so it is not going to feel quite so warm as this might suggest. “Temperatures will be on the mild side, lifting as we go through this weekend and staying mild through much of next week. There may be some chillier spells but I think that any frost is likely to be isolated if we see any at all. “There could be some overnight fog, particularly where we see drier, calmer weather towards the south-east.” The Environment Agency had issued 12 flood warnings, where flooding was expected, and 59 flood alerts, where flooding was possible, as of Friday morning. An amber cold health alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency, is in place until Saturday at noon, which could affect the health and social care sector. Temperatures on Thursday night in Scotland again fell below freezing, with data indicating that the mercury dipped to -10C in Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway, at about 8pm. However, temperatures climbed in the region from then on, with the same village sitting at -1C at 5am on Friday, as per preliminary Met Office data. Milder conditions over the weekend will also result in the thaw of lying snow. Storm Isha is the ninth named storm to reach the UK since the season began in September. Each storm is named when it poses a risk to people and they are given names beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet. The record number of 11 named storms was in 2015-16, when the Met Office began the practice of naming them. If there are three more named storms between next week and August, this year will mark a new record. Cold Arctic air pushing south into North America was making the jet stream more active, the Met Office said, and because it flows from west to east, it is bringing stormier weather to the UK. While there is evidence that climate change will make the UK wetter with more intense downpours happening more frequently because warmer air holds more moisture, there is no scientific basis to suggest that there will be more named storms as a result.