Parts of Scotland to be battered with heavy rain hours after Met Office snow alert ends

The Met Office has issued a new yellow weather warning for rain in the north east of Scotland.

The alert, covering Angus and Aberdeenshire, comes into force at 6pm on Wednesday, just three hours after a warning for snow in the region comes to an end.

Rainfall of up to 40mm will be possible in some areas until 12pm on Thursday. Disruption to both train and bus services is expected due to the adverse weather conditions.

Homes and businesses could be flooded due to the downpours.

It is the latest in a series of weather warnings issued by the Met Office in the north of the country, with much of Aberdeenshire and Angus experiencing twice the normal amount of rainfall in January – the wettest since 2016.

Last month was the area’s ninth wettest January on record, with records going back to 1836.

Insight Sean Batty STV Weather Presenter

The culprit has been a large, stubborn high-pressure system over Scandinavia, which has blocked weather fronts from clearing eastwards into the North Sea.

Instead, they’ve stalled over Aberdeenshire, bringing what has felt like relentless cloud and rain. This high pressure has also locked us into an unusual easterly airflow for weeks. As a result, the west – particularly the north-west Highlands – has been far drier than normal, with Loch Glascarnoch receiving only around a quarter of its average January rainfall.

Unfortunately for Aberdeenshire and Angus, there’s little immediate relief on the horizon. The airflow shows no sign of changing anytime soon, meaning further rain and snow in the coming days. It’s only when the intense cold and high pressure over Norway, Sweden and Finland finally shift that this pattern is likely to break.