Scotland weather: Heavy rain and high winds forecast for the next 24 hours but a 'hint of spring' could be in the air by the weekend

The Met Office has issued amber and yellow weather warnings for heavy rain and wind across most of Scotland but sunshine is expected to break through by the weekend.

Heavy rain and high winds forecast for the next 24 hours in Scotland with amber and yellow weather warnings in place.

The yellow warning for strong winds, covering the whole of mainland Scotland and the Western Isles, came into force at 2am today, Tuesday, February, 23 and is set to remain in place until at least 6pm this evening.

Gusts of 50-60 mph are expected throughout this morning with some areas in the west of the country potentially seeing winds of up to 70 mph.

These high winds are expected to ease into the afternoon but as a precaution Network Rail announced that it would be withdrawing services on some route while the high winds and extreme rainfall sweep across the country.

Services on the West Coast Mainline will be withdrawn between Glasgow and Carlisle throughout Tuesday, while a revised timetable will be in place on the Highland Mainline where services will be suspended between Perth and Pitlochry.

Additional engineers are being deployed across the network to inspect lines, repair damage and reopen routes as quickly as possible for passengers and freight customers.

Two amber weather warnings for heavy rain have been issued in central and southern Scotland, these come into force at midday on Tuesday and will be lifted at 12pm on Wednesday.

Up to 120mm of rain is forecast to fall in these areas over the next 24-36 hours, and as the ground is already saturated from weekend rainfall the risk of further flooding is very high.

Chief Meteorologist Andy Page, said: “An area of low pressure to the north west of the UK will bring very wet and windy conditions to parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and north west England through the start of the week.

“With continued southerly winds mild temperatures are forecast for much of the UK, with highs of 14-16C in the south and east through the week.

"As the system moves through by the middle of the week high pressure moves in and this will bring more settled conditions into the weekend, with good spells of sunshine it could feel like the first hints of Spring.”

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