Britain is bracing for a blustery weekend as Storm Catherine sweeps across the country, bringing heavy rain and winds of up to 70mph.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for heavy rain from 2am to 9am on Friday. The heaviest rainfall is expected in central Scotland, with up to 3 inches possible in some areas. The UK is expected to receive around 15-25mm of rainfall, with some areas receiving up to 35mm overnight.

“Heavy rain will move across the north and east of the country from (Thursday night) into (Friday) morning,” meteorologist Greg Dewhurst warned.

“So it will start out fine on Friday morning but leave some showers behind, and then longer periods of rain are possible as we move through the day over northern parts of the UK.”

While rain will continue throughout the day, sunny spells are possible in some areas of the Southeast, with temperatures reaching 18°C ​​(64°F).

A yellow warning for snow has also been issued from early morning until 9am on Friday. These include the Midlands, Tayside and Fife, South West Scotland, the Lothian Borders, the Grampians, the Highlands and Erincia and Strathclyde. Snow is expected in higher areas, with accumulations of 10 centimeters or more above 300 meters.

The Met Office has also issued a yellow weather warning for high winds from 8am to 10pm on Saturday. The weather warning covers the West, including parts of Scotland and Wales and north-west and south-west England.

Winds could reach 60-70 mph along the western coast, with gusts up to 40-50 mph inland.

“Winds will increase further Friday night into Saturday and we will see gusts of 30-40 mph across the country starting Saturday morning,” Dewhurst said.

“Around the western interior of England we could see gusts of 40 to 50mph and then around the west coast of England we could see gusts of 60 to 70mph.”

Storm Catherine was named by Met Eireann and is the 11th storm to be named in eight months. This is only the second time in a season that a storm with the letter “K” has hit the UK.