The deadly bomb cyclone that has sent temperatures plunging in the United States is set to cause heavy rain, wind, snow and ice across Scotland.
The Met Office has issued three weather warnings across the country.
The forecaster issued a yellow weather warning for heavy rain from 3am on Friday for 15 hours covering Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.
An amber warning for rain, which poses a danger to life, will come into force over Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire on Friday at the same time.
The Scottish Government said the Multi-Agency Response Team will monitor conditions throughout the amber warning period.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued ten flood alerts across the country.
Meteorologist Simon Partridge said the wet and windy weather was being caused by the bomb cyclone in the US.
“The UK weather is going to remain unsettled with further spells of wet and windy weather due to the strengthening of the jet stream because of the weather in the US,” he said.
A snow and ice yellow warning covering the entire north of Scotland has been issued for midnight on Thursday until 9pm on Friday.
It covers the Isle of Lewis and Skye in the west, up to the north coast of the mainland, as far east as Inverurie, and south down to the Cowal peninsula.
Mr Partridge said that the impact on the UK would be “nowhere near” as significant as it was on the US.
“The effect it’s having on the UK is nowhere near as dramatic because that system has brought up a lot of cold air further south, across the US,” he said.
Indeed, the cyclone is only having an effect on the UK due to its impact on the North Atlantic jet stream.
“What effect (the bomb cyclone) has had is to strengthen the jet stream because the jet stream is basically driven by temperature differences.
“So the starker the difference in temperature between the northern edge of it and southern edge, the stronger the jet stream becomes.”
He said the knock-on effect for the UK is spells of wet and windy weather over the next seven to ten days.
Flooding and travel disruption is expected across the country with difficult driving conditions and some road closures forecast in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway and Argyll and Bute.
Forecasters said where flooding occurs, there is a chance of delays or cancellations to train and bus services.
It comes after ScotRail resumed normal service after most trains were cancelled over the Christmas period due to strike action by Network Rail workers.
Amid heavy rain, there is a chance some communities will become cut off by flooded roads, the Met Office said.
Homes and businesses could be flooded, causing damage to some buildings too.
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