Storm Ellen sweeps in 60mph winds across Scotland

Parts of Scotland are being battered by strong winds as Storm Ellen sweeps in from the Atlantic.

A Met Office yellow ‘be aware’ warning for wind stretches from the north of Scotland down to Dumfries and Galloway and remains in place until the early hours of Friday.

A separate yellow warning for very strong winds is also in place and lasts until 6pm on Friday, while the Scotland Environment Protection Agency has issued five flood warnings for the south-western coast.

Met Éireann, the Irish meteorological service, named the storm Ellen. It is the first time a storm has been named during August.

The warnings come a week after flash flooding across the country as thunderstorms caused torrential downpours.

STV Weather reporter Philip Petrie said: “The effects of Storm Ellen will be felt in parts of Scotland, and the Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for strong winds affecting western and southern parts of the country.

“The first of these weather warnings came into effect on Wednesday night, for parts of South Uist stretching down to Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway. It is expected that these areas could see gusts of up to 60mph during the warning period, which runs out at 4am on Friday.

“The second yellow weather warning then comes into effect and lasts until 6pm on Friday. This is again for wind, affecting southern areas such as Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, the Lothians, Dumfries and Galloway and Edinburgh. During this time, gusts of 45-50mph are expected in inland areas, while coastal regions could see 55-60mph gusts.

“Storm Ellen has now moved away to the north of Ireland but the after-effects are still being felt across the UK, and already a gust of 54mph was recorded at 6am on South Uist.

Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services are already experiencing some disruption.