Record-breaking Hurricane Ophelia will bring warm weather to parts of the UK today before the severe tropical storm makes landfall on Monday.
The Met Office has warned of a "danger to life from flying debris" with 80mph winds expected in coastal areas, particularly in Northern Ireland, as the remnants of the hurricane hits.
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It will coincide with the
30th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1987.
Ophelia is the farthest east that a major hurricane has ever been in the Atlantic. The previous record was held by Frances in 1980, according to CNN Meteorologist Haley Brink.
The hurricane strengthened to a Category 3 storm as it passed near the Portuguese Azores archipelago on Saturday en route for Ireland.
"We have informed the American hurricane centre that Ophelia has become Category 3, but that doesn't change our levels of alert," said Elsa Vieira, from the Portuguese Meteorological Institute's (IPMA) regional service.
Ophelia, packing winds in excess of 100 kilometres per hour, was "now a major hurricane", Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane specialist at Colorado State University, said.