The government is sending a rare “risk to life” alert to three million people after a red weather warning was issued for wind tomorrow.

First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan said the UK’s Emergency Alert System is only used when there is a “potential risk to life”.

The alert, set to arrive any moment now, will trigger a sound “much louder than a normal text message”.

“Your phone will make a loud noise and flash until you turn it off,” she said.

The red warning, the most serious the Met Office can issue, is in place from 3am to 11am on Saturday and mostly affects the coast of Wales, as well as parts of the southwest of England.

PA reports residents in the following areas will receive the alert:

• Devon
• Bath
• North East Somerset
• City of Bristol
• North Somerset
• South Gloucestershire 
• Somerset
• Isle of Anglesey
• Gwynedd
• Conwy
• Ceredigion
• Pembrokeshire
• Carmarthenshire
• Swansea
• Neath Port Talbot
• Bridgend
• Vale of Glamorgan
• Cardiff
• Monmouthshire
• Newport

This will be the largest use of the warning system outside a test scenario – the last test being in April 2023.