UK weather forecast: Heavy rain and strong winds to sweep across Britain this weekend, Met Office says

A large swathe of the UK should prepare for stormy weather this weekend

The tail-end of an Atlantic hurricane will cause torrential downpours and strong winds to sweep across parts of the UK over the weekend.

Former Hurricane Oscar, which peaked with winds over 100mph when it whipped through the Caribbean earlier this week, will pass near the British Isles on Saturday.

Although the weather system has now been downgraded, the Met Office has still issued a yellow warning for rain across western Scotland.

"Heavy and persistent rain” is expected across Scotland for much of the day, according to the Met Office.

Spray and flooding is expected to make driving much harder and journey times longer, and bus and train services will also be affected.

The first rains brought by the remnants of Hurricane Oscar will hit Northern Ireland on Friday afternoon, before the downpours and winds pick up early on Saturday morning for most of western Scotland and parts of north-western England.

By the end of Saturday the bad weather will have reached Wales and parts of eastern England as well, and BBC weather forecaster Nick Miller has warned that the winds could reach speeds of 60mph.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning and said the downpours will make driving difficult (PA)

“Wherever you are, the breeze is picking up, particularly in the west. But it’s nowhere near as cold, but you may still see a touch of frost in eastern England," he said.

“The next system is a deep area of low pressure – ex-Hurricane Oscar. It passes us to the northwest but we are close enough to get a windier day across the UK on Saturday and a very wet day in western Scotland.”

The mercury plummeted overnight, with the coldest spots seeing temperatures of -2C early on Friday morning. But the coming storms will see more mild temperatures, Mr Miller said, with temperatures of 8 or 9C on Saturday morning.

Although the worst of the wind and rain will lash western Britain on Saturday, the bad weather could persist into Sunday and affect fireworks displays and Bonfire Night celebrations in some places.

A fresh band of rain is also expected to cause problems on Sunday for western England and Wales.

Looking ahead to next week, the forecast improves although it will remain unsettled with plenty of wet and windy weather.

The Met Office said that temperatures would stay warmer throughout next week, although overnight frosts and patches of mist and fog are possible, especially in the northern parts of the UK.