A “danger to life” weather warning has been put in place for Edinburgh as the Capital prepares to bear the brunt of Storm Dudley.
Met Office experts have upgraded their yellow caution to amber with 70mph inland winds expected later in the week.
Forecasters warned “strong and disruptive” gusts are likely to cause serious issues for travel services on Wednesday and Thursday.
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An "active jet stream will drive a series of low-pressure systems across the country," bringing both rain and a light dusting of snow.
Weather experts said there is still some uncertainty in the timing and location of the strongest winds, but there is the potential for inland wind to reach 60 to 70 mph in places, with gusts of 80 to 90 mph possible in more exposed areas.
Met Office meteorologist, Tom Morgan, said: "This whole week is going to see quite a disturbed weather pattern developing across the UK".
A gentle start to Wednesday is set to quickly give way to violent conditions in the afternoon, with wind speeds expected to leap from 9 mph to 22 in the space of a few hours.
Winds are expected to ease, initially across western areas, through Thursday afternoon and evening, forecasters added.
The forecast reads: "Heavy rain on Wednesday followed by blustery showers, turning wintry on Thursday.
"Becoming very windy with gales or severe gales.
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"Staying cold on Friday with heavy sleet and snow possible."
It comes after Storm Malik and Storm Corrie brought strong gale force winds that caused widespread disruption across the country this year.
Thousands of homes in Scotland were left without power for days after the named storms battered parts of the country, causing widespread damage.
SSEN said the intensity of the wind storms caused serious damage to the company's infrastructure.
