Storm Floris upgraded to amber warning for most of Scotland

An amber warning for bad weather has been issued for much of mainland Scotland for Monday.

The upgraded warning covers most of the central belt and the north of Scotland and will come into force at 10:00 on Monday, remaining in place until 22:00.

The rest of the country, including areas such as Dumfries and the Borders as well as Orkney and Shetland will remain under a yellow warning from 06:00 until 00:00.

Storm Floris, named by the Met Office, is predicted to have “unseasonably strong winds”.

The amber warning covers a wide area as far south as the country’s central belt – including Glasgow and Edinburgh and also the Highlands.

Gusts of up to 90mph are likely to hit exposed western coastlines and hills, while winds of 70mph are expected elsewhere.

Winds will first ease in the west later on Monday but will remain very strong overnight until early Tuesday in the east.

Western coastal areas will see the highest gusts between late morning and early afternoon, the strongest winds then transferring to north-eastern Scotland, including Aberdeenshire, by late afternoon/early evening.

Power disruption is also possible while heavy rain and flooding could be an additional hazard.

Weather warnings are divided into three colours, yellow, amber and red – the most severe.

Yellow warnings are the lowest level of warning and are the ones you will see most often. They give you a heads up that some severe weather is possible and to start planning for impacts to either travel, power or property.

However, when either confidence in the forecast of severe weather or the level of disruption expected increases, it is upgraded to an amber warning.

An amber warning essentially means there is a high likelihood of severe weather that will have a medium impact.