Storm Francis to bring strong winds and heavy rain

A weather warning is in place as Storm Francis is set to bring strong winds and heavy rain to Scotland.

It will mainly affect central, southern and eastern parts of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The worst of the rain is set to fall across Fife, Edinburgh and the Lothians, Lanarkshire, Stirlingshire, areas around Glasgow, Ayrshire, Dumfries and the Borders.

A yellow warning for rain is due to be issued by the Met Office for southern and eastern areas at midnight until 6am on Wednesday.

The anticipated adverse weather follows intense rainfall earlier in August, which saw torrential downpours and flash flooding cause disruption.

STV meteorologist Sean Batty said: “Around 20-30mm of rain could fall quite widely, which is about a third of a month’s rainfall for some spots.

“This comes off the back of some intense rainfall earlier in the month which brought around half a month’s worth of rain in some areas, so this will cap off what will turn out to be a very wet August in quite a few locations.”

The strongest winds in Scotland will affect Aberdeenshire, Angus, Fife, Dundee and the Inner Hebrides but will also impact the central belt for spells in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Sean added: “The strongest winds will occur late afternoon and into the evening with gusts up to 55mph possible along the east coast.

“While these winds are not overly strong for us, the time of year could make it a little more disruptive as trees are in full leaf and this means branches are heavier and act as sails meaning there is a greater risk of branches coming down.

“The weather will turn much quieter later in the week, but there will be a bit of an autumnal chill in the air as we head towards the start of meteorological autumn on Tuesday next week.”