A window that has cracked in the wind.

What Friday and Saturday are

At 03:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 23 October 2026, the Met Office said an amber wind warning covers southwest England from 3am to 10am, and a yellow wind warning covers a larger area of southwest and southern England and south Wales from midnight to 2pm. The same forecast says winds ease on Friday night, then cloud and rain spread from the west on Saturday. Met Office presenter Dan Holley said the storm moves away on Friday evening, leaving a brief quieter spell before Storm Boelo brings more wet and windy weather on Saturday, with strong winds into Sunday.

The day before, at 11:19 (UTC+1) on 22 October, the Met Office named Storm Boelo and updated the Austen warnings. That notice brought the southwest amber warning forward to 1am on Friday, extended a wider yellow through to 5pm, and added another yellow for a large area of England and Wales from 10am to 9pm, with gusts of 45–55 mph. It also set Boelo's yellow wind warnings: mainland Scotland, the Western Isles, Orkney and the far north of England from 6pm Saturday to 9pm Sunday, with gusts of 55–65 mph widely and 70–80 mph in exposed places, and a separate warning for Northern Ireland from 6pm Saturday to 3pm Sunday. Chief Forecaster Neil Armstrong said trees are still in leaf, so fallen branches are likely. The two notices do not use the same clock. Open the warning for your postcode before you treat Friday afternoon as clear.

Bristol is this site's city in southwest England. Friday's amber warning uses that name for its area. London is in southern England, the broad area named in Friday's yellow warning. The warning map shows whether a postcode is inside either polygon. Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds may sit outside both. The Thursday notice says rain will spill across the UK through Saturday, and the Friday forecast puts Boelo's strongest winds further north. A crack is a reason to phone on any of these streets. The warning explains the week. It does not decide which pane is sound.

While the wind is still up

Stay inside. The Met Office page on staying safe in a storm says to stay indoors as much as possible, and not to go outside to repair damage while the storm is in progress. Keep away from the sheltered side of boundary walls and fences, because that is the side they fall towards. After the wind, stay back from walls, buildings and trees the wind may have weakened, and keep clear of cables that are down or still hanging.

If glass is on the floor, or the wind is coming through the opening, keep people and pets out of that room. The same Met Office page says to open internal doors only as needed, and to close them behind you. Photograph what you can see from a safe place before anything is moved. The Association of British Insurers says to keep damaged pieces unless they are a danger to health. Glass someone could be cut on is that danger. Clear it only once the wind is no longer driving through the room, and only after the photograph. This page does not describe a board, a sheet or a tape.

If someone is badly hurt, phone 999. A cable the wind has brought down beside the opening is a different call, set out in the lights go out in the wind. In England, Scotland and Wales that number is 105. Leave the cable where it is.

Which opening is this fault

Phone about the glass when you can see one of these, from inside the room:

• A crack you can see through, or a pane that has starred.
• Glass missing, or a sealed unit the wind has pushed in.
• A branch still sitting in the opening.
• The frame torn, or the sash blown in so the opening will not close.

Leave a branch where it is. Say so when you phone. If the tree is on someone else's land, the ABI says to contact that owner. The timber, if it is still on the house or down in the garden, is a tree or a large branch that has come down in the wind. A fence panel that has gone through the glass is also a fence that is already loose before the wind. The glass is still this page.

Other marks on the same wall are other notes:

• Both panes whole, and the gap between them misty: a failed seal. It can wait past Saturday.
• Moisture on the room side of glass that is still whole: black mould on a cold wall when the heating stays low.
• A tile, ridge or gutter out of line, with this glass unbroken: a tile that looks out of place after the wind.
• A stain that darkens when it rains, and the pane is intact: a damp patch that appears after rain.

If you may claim, phone the insurer first

The ABI says that if the building or the contents are damaged, contact the insurer as soon as possible. Most have a 24-hour emergency helpline. Have the policy number. Do nothing that puts anyone in the household at risk. The same guidance describes buildings insurance as cover for the structure of the home and the permanent fixtures. A window sits in that structure. Read the policy. This page cannot say a claim will be paid, and it has no call-out figure.

Whether the weather counts as a storm is the insurer's decision. The ABI describes a storm as gusts of at least 55 mph, or torrential rain of at least 25 mm in an hour, or snow to a depth of 30 cm in 24 hours, or hail that damages hard surfaces or breaks glass. Thursday's yellow for a large area of England and Wales spoke of gusts reaching 45–55 mph. A street inside a yellow warning can sit under that 55 mph line. Insurers also look at nearby properties, and at whether the weakness was already there. The ABI lists sealing windows among the maintenance that keeps a house ready, and it says a policy is for sudden damage. A unit that was already misted is that kind of weakness. A pane the wind has holed is the question you put to the insurer.

A temporary cover, once it is safe to work at the opening, is there to stop Saturday's rain spreading the damage. The ABI says to tell the insurer, keep the photographs, and keep an itemised invoice and the receipts. Home emergency cover, where a policy includes it, is a separate option. The insurer is who confirms that. If the insurer appoints a contractor, follow that process. If you are choosing a business yourself, use the list below and phone them.

Phone a glazier once it is safe

Phone a glazier for the cracked pane, the missing glass, or the unit that has been pushed in. Book the visit for after the wind has eased. Friday night is the quieter spell in Friday morning's forecast, and Saturday brings another band of rain. Describe the floor, the room, and whether a branch is still in the opening. You phone, email, or use the website on the record.

Open the windows and doors list, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol. Get contact details opens the list. It does not pass the job on. FENSA on a card is shown only when that record already has it. That line is not a recommendation.

The Planning Portal says building regulations will not normally apply if the work is no more than replacing broken glass, rotten sashes, or rotten sections of the main frame. They will normally apply if the whole of the fixed frame and the opening parts are replaced, or if a new opening is made. A registered installer under a competent person scheme can certify that full replacement without a separate building-control application. FENSA is one such scheme. The urgent visit is the opening made weather-tight. A whole new window is the later job, after someone has seen the frame.

When the whole window is replaced, the Planning Portal's doors and windows note says safety glazing is required in critical places: glazing up to 800 mm from the floor, glazing in a door up to 1,500 mm from the floor, and a side panel within 300 mm of the door up to 1,500 mm from the floor. Ask the installer to meet that. This page does not name a thickness or a standard.

On a house, the same Portal guidance says you do not usually need planning permission for repairs and minor improvements, or for a new window of similar appearance to the one used when the house was built. Those allowances are for houses. They do not apply to flats and maisonettes. Changing the windows of a flat can need planning permission when the new window looks different, and a leaseholder may need the freeholder's permission first. A listed building needs listed building consent for significant work, inside or out. Ask the local planning authority before the frame, or the type of glass, is changed. Covering the opening so Saturday's rain stays out is still the urgent job. An Article 4 direction can also withdraw the usual allowance. The local authority is who confirms that on one house.

If you rent in England, tell the landlord

GOV.UK's private renting repairs page says the landlord is responsible for the structure and exterior. An external window sits in that exterior. Contact the landlord straight away. The same page says to do that at once for a fault that could harm health, and it gives faulty electrical wiring as the example. An opening the weather can enter, or glass someone could be cut on, is that kind of report. Tell them what you can see, and which room.

You should only carry out repairs the tenancy agreement allows. You cannot be required to carry out the landlord's repairs. Carry on paying the rent while you wait. The buildings policy on a rented home is usually the landlord's. The glazier, if you are allowed to arrange one, is still a business you phone yourself.

That page is the England guide. It sends private tenants in Scotland to the Private Rented Housing Panel, and it points to different housing standards in Northern Ireland. Wales sets its own duties. This note does not turn the England page into one rule for all four nations.