A yellow weather warning has been issued for parts of Scotland as strong winds are expected to batter the country on Wednesday.
The Met Office said that the spell of strong winds could primarily cause disruption to travel, with the warning set to come into force from 4am until 1pm on March 22.
The warning affects parts of central Scotland, Tayside, Fife, the Grampian region, the Highlands, and the Strathclyde region.
Showers are predicted to move east with “very strong” west to southwest winds following on Wednesday morning, the Met said.
Gusts with speeds of up to 50-60mph are likely, with 65mph expected in exposed locations, and a likelihood of winds reaching 75mph in parts of western Scotland.
The Met said these may combine with the morning high tide to cause some spray and large waves along some western coasts.
People should expect some delays to all forms of transport, with some bus and train services affected and journeys taking longer.
Delays for high-sided vehicles on exposed routes and bridges are also likely, and some places could experience a loss of power supply.
Insight Sean Batty STV meteorologist
Wednesday morning will be very unsettled with strong winds, accompanied by a spell of heavy rain across Stirlingshire, Argyll and the west Highlands.
Winds will pick up through the night and peak during the first half of tomorrow with gusts of 40-50mph quite widely across the mainland, and peaks of 60-70mph possible around the likes of Skye, Mallaig, the Small Isles, Coll, Tiree, Lochaber, Mull, Fort William and down to Loch Awe.
Further south, the likes of Ayr, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling are more likely to have gusts 40-50mph, although this could still have the potential to cause some disruption, particularly for high sided vehicles trying to cross any of the bridges where there may be restrictions.
Ferry travel is also likely to be affected around the west coast and the Hebrides, but it should get better in the afternoon.
There could be as much as 20-30mm of rain across parts of Argyll and Stirlingshire, in places such as Tyndrum, Crianlarich, Taynuilt and Lochawe, although the persistent rain should be fairly short-lived.
Temperatures will remain on the mild side for now, with highs of 14-15C possible along the Moray coast this afternoon. Even though spring officialy sprung yesterday, colder weather is set to briefly return on Sunday with the risk of wintry showers returning.
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