An emergency alert is being sent to millions of people in Scotland ahead of the rare red warning. The last wind storm of this scale to affect Central Scotland was on 3 January 2012. At the time it prompted a Met Office red warning for wind that was similar in scale and scope to the one issued for Éowyn.

Millions of people in Scotland received an emergency alert to their mobile phones after the Met Office issued a red danger to life warning for wind. The Cabinet Office alert at around 6pm on Thursday in response to Storm Eowyn was the largest real-life use of the emergency system to date.

An emergency alert has been sent to millions of people in Scotland ahead of a rare red weather warning. People with compatible mobile phones living in the 22 council areas of the country expected to be worst hit by the storm received the alert at approximately 18:00.

Forecasters warn gusts of up to 100mph during Storm Eowyn could result in flying debris and pose a danger to life, and people are urged to stay indoors. Police said no road users

The red warning will run from 10:00 to 17:00 on Friday and covers a large chunk of the central belt, some islands and parts of south west Scotland. Meanwhile the rest of Scotland is covered by amber or yellow alerts for a large part of the day.