(c) A possibility of a "Sting jet" bringing a narrow swathe of storm force
winds
in the SW quadrant of the low. SW England is under obvious threat from this
and
with trees in full leaf the effects could be disasterous.

Will,

You are quite right about the effect of wind on fully-leafed trees.
Only last Thursday while hacking round a local golf course, a
friend and I both witnessed a 5-foot length of branch, complete
with oak leaves crash to the ground in gusts of only 30kt or so.

The loud 'crack' as the branch separated from the trunk is
something I won't forget in a hurry. I would like to make it
clear that this incident was not caused by one of my stray
golf shots!

It was quite likely that this part of the tree was unusually weak,
but there were other smaller branches lying about with new leaf
attached. Following a long period of light winds, any significant
wind speeds now may well reinforce your thought stated above.

Rainfall so far this month stands at 1.5mm after a couple of
moderate showers (Friday evening and this afternoon).

Nigel (Romsey, Hampshire)