Weather alert as ten days' worth of rain to fall within 16 hours

Ten days’ worth of rain is set to fall within 16 hours as a Met Office weather warning is due to come into force.

Heavy rain is forecast over southwest Scotland on Tuesday with flooding and travel disruption likely.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued three flood alerts covering central Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders.

The Met Office warned of delays to journey times and flood risk for homes and businesses.

The yellow weather warning comes into effect at 3am on Tuesday and remains in force until 7pm.

Parts of Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and the Borders are expected to see up to 40mm of rainfall quite widely, STV weather presenter Philip Petrie said.

Insight Philip Petrie STV weather presenter

Over the weekend we saw quite a bit of rainfall across the country, particularly on Sunday. A total of 29mm of rainfall was recorded in 24 hours at Machrihanish and 24.4mm at Tyndrum.

The unsettled conditions were made worse by the strong winds, with gusts of 43mph recorded on the Fair Isle and 45mph winds on Islay.

We’re getting a brief respite today to start the new working week as a slight ridge of high pressure extends its’ influence across Scotland. There will be a few showers around, but most places are staying dry with lighter winds.

Unfortunately things go downhill from this evening as a deep area of low pressure moves in from the west, so things will be turning increasingly cloudy from the south and west, with outbreaks of rain moving in which will be persistent and heavy at times.

The winds pick up strength too and by around midnight we’ll be seeing gusts of 50mph developing around the Western Isles.

The only saving grace is that it will be a milder night than last night because our winds are coming in from the south and we have so much cloud and rain. Last night temperatures dipped to 3.6c in Aboyne, but tonight most places will be staying in double figures.

Due to the fact certain parts of the country have already seen a lot of rainfall over the past couple of days and with the heavy and persistent rain on the way tonight the Met Office have decided to issue a yellow weather warning for rain covering Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and the Borders.

This comes into effect at 3am tomorrow morning and within the warning zone we are likely to see between 25-40mm of rainfall quite widely.

Through to the end part of the week a ridge of high pressure establishes itself across the UK and settles things down in time for the weekend.