A "glitch" by the BBC Weather service has wrongly predicted that many towns in East Lothian will suffer "hurricane force winds" today.

In a UK-wide fault, the BBC's weather websites and apps are erroneously forecasting impossibly high winds across towns, villages and cities - just as Hurricane Milton blasts through Florida. 

According to the false data, towns such as Prestonpans are experiencing 8,240 mile per hour winds, with North Berwick predicted at 7,325mph!

As anyone who looks out their window will know, there is little more than a gentle breeze today!

Yet BBC Weather is predicting winds of 8,240mph for Tranent, 5,482mph for Dunbar, and a staggering 17,519mph for Musselburgh. 

The BBC said that it has been inundated with concerns raised by the public over the hurricane strength winds being forecast in the UK by its weather websites and apps (see examples below). 

Due to the glitch, Prestonpans has been predicted to have 8240 mile per hour winds (Image: BBC) On Thursday morning, BBC's on duty meteorologist, Carol Kirkwood, told viewers "not to be alarmed" during the BBC TV's daily breakfast show. 

"We are having a technical glitch at the moment: it is showing wind speeds that are far too fast of hurricane strength and that, of course, is not the case at all," she said.

"So please do not be alarmed by that and we are very aware of it and we are on it, we are trying to fix it right now."

North Berwick's forecast for Thursday (Image: BBC) A BBC spokesperson said:  “We’re aware of an issue with our third-party supplier, which means our Weather app and website are wrongly predicting hurricane wind speeds everywhere.

"That is incorrect and we apologise. We’re working with our supplier to fix this as soon as possible.”

BBC Weather can be accessed, by clicking here.