Scotland is set to be battered by heavy rainfall over the weekend after Irish forecasers issued a weather warning for Storm Betty.
It is August’s second named storm and has been issued by Met Eireann – the Irish National Meteorological Service.
The impact on Scotland has led the Met Office to issue a yellow weather warning from 3am on Saturday until noon for heavy rainfall.
Bus and train services are likely to be impacted with journeys taking longer and some possibility of cancellations.
Spray and flooding on roads is likely to increase journey times and homes and businesses may also experience some flooding.
Traffic Scotland has also urged drivers to take care on the roads.
The warning is in place for much of the central belt and the north east coast as well as areas of Argyll and Bute.
Around 20 to 30mm of rain is expected to fall widely within the warning area, with east-facing high ground in the Angus Hills and Grampian Mountains set to see the highest rainfall of up to 40 to 60mm.
The rain is likely to last around three to four hours with “strong and gusty southeasterly winds” accompanying downpours.
Gusts of up to 40mph could be seen around some exposed coasts and hills in the east.
Insight Philip Petrie STV weather presenter
As we head into the weekend we are unfortunately met with our second named storm of August.
Throughout Friday a deepening area of low pressure approaches Scotland from the south west, which will bring with it strengthening winds and heavy rainfall. Due to the impact it will have on parts of Ireland, the Irish National Meteorological Service, Met Eireann, have named it Storm Betty – making this our second named storm in August.
Along with this, the Met Office have also issued a rain weather warning that we need to be aware of. This comes into effect at 3am Saturday morning and runs until midday. It is split into two parts, covering parts of East Lothian, the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and the other parts covering Argyll and Bute, Stirling, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Fife, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Ayrshire. During this time we will see some heavy rainfall moving through and widely we can expect between 20-30mm.
Strong and gusty winds will accompany the rain as it moves through overnight, and we could see gusts of up to 40mph around exposed hills and coasts.
By Sunday it will be a better picture. Storm Betty will now have cleared to the north west and there will be more in the way of brightness with sunny intervals, and a few scattered heavy showers – but these will move through quickly thanks to the fact it will still be a breezy day.
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