The Know Daily - Monday 22 January 2024

_{Read in 5m 24s ∙ Listening to Asake ∙ Share us to your socials ☝️}

A critically endangered western lowland gorilla has been born to mother Mjukuu at London Zoo, as part of an international conservation programme. The gorillas’ numbers have declined by more than 60% over the past 20-25 years, according to the WWF, so the birth is certainly worth celebrating. 🎂

☔ Storm Isha is here

Further travel disruption is expected this morning after Storm Isha brought strong winds and heavy rain to much of the UK overnight. 

How stormy was it?
Very. Storm Isha - the ninth named storm of the season - brought 99mph winds to parts of north-east England last night and left tens of thousands of homes in Northern Ireland, north-west England and Wales without power.

While more severe amber weather warnings expired across much of the UK at 6am this morning, a yellow warning for wind remains in place.

And travel was impacted yesterday?
Yep. ScotRail suspended all of its services from 6pm on Sunday until after 6am on Monday, and air travel was also affected.

While many flights were cancelled due to the storm, there were also a number of “extraordinary diversions”, said the BBC, meaning many passengers are waking up this morning “somewhere they didn’t expect to be”.

How are things looking now?
Travel disruption is expected across the UK this morning, with rush-hour trains “axed for many”, said The Guardian. Network Rail has imposed 50mph speed restrictions across most routes, while no LNER trains will run north of Newcastle until midday.

The weather will brighten up over the course of the day, though the Met Office has said that “further wet and windy weather” is expected tomorrow morning.