Scotland is set to be battered by strong winds as the second named storm of the year arrives this weekend.
Storm Isha is expected to bring gusts reaching 50-60mph, and 60-70mph in more exposed areas of the country.
Ahead of Isha’s arrival, the Met Office has issued an amber weather warning which will be in place from midday on Sunday until Monday.
Concentrated on the central belt, Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, the rest of the country will also be affected by strong winds as a yellow warning has also been issued.
A third weather warning for rain has also been issued for parts of the country.
The Met Office said there is a chance that injuries and “danger to life” could occur from flying debris.
Scots have been urged to check road conditions and timetables before travelling as services may be affected with longer journey times and cancellations.
The Met Office warned that some areas may experience power cuts and mobile coverage may also be affected by the blustery conditions.
This is the ninth named storm since the storm naming season began in September, and the second of 2024 after Storm Henk at the start of January.
The warning comes after a week of arctic conditions throughout Scotland which has seen the closure of multiple schools.
Amid the snowy conditions people in the northern Highlands, Orkney and Shetland have been urged not to travel amid “extremely challenging” road conditions.
Insight Philip Petrie STV weather presenter
We seem to have had it all this week, from rain, snow, blue skies, ice and now a storm.
Starting the week we were stuck in a northerly airflow, dragging in bitterly cold arctic air and giving us a lot of disruptive and heavy snowfall across the northern half of the country. Sean has been in his element chasing the snow up to Ullapool with his metre stick, but it has been quite extreme and in his words some of the most “epic” snow he has seen.
Further south however it was blue skies and sunshine for much of central and southern Scotland, however it was bitterly cold with some severe overnight frosts and lows of -5C and -6C for some of the main towns and cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow.
An icy start to the day today for many of us, as we transition from that cold air to milder air coming in off the Atlantic. The rain falling onto the already frozen ground lead to some severely slippery surfaces around rush hour during a yellow weather warning for ice.
And now we end the week with another named storm, our second of the year so far, and our ninth since last September. Storm Isha arrives late Sunday and will bring with it strong winds, potentially 80mph severe gales around the south west initially, but even inland through the central belt we could be seeing gales leading to a lot of disruption into Monday morning during rush hour.
Storm Isha clears away later on Monday but the strong winds will continue into Tuesday as another low pressure system arrives – this time bringing further stormy conditions.
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