The wet and windy weather in Scotland is being whipped up by the bomb cyclone which has brought extreme cold and snowfall in the US.
A rain warning has been issued for Friday which covers much of the central belt, including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling. Heavy rain is set to start from 3am as up to three inches are predicted to drench the country - and could turn into snow.
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge has said the gloomy weather is a result of a jet stream brought on by fierce snow storms recently seen in America, particularly in upstate New York.
“The UK weather is going to remain unsettled with further spells of wet and windy weather due to the strengthening of the jet stream because of the weather in the US,” he said.
However, Mr Partridge said the impact will be "nowhere near" as serious as in America, as intense snowstorms have plagued parts of New York resulting in trapped residents, buried cars and even fatalities.
UK forecasters have warned of flooding resulting in possible road closures, which may cause disruption in the lead up to New Year's weekend.
He added: “The effect it’s having on the UK is nowhere near as dramatic because that system has brought up a lot of cold air further south, across the US.”
Indeed, the cyclone is only having an effect on the UK due to its impact on the North Atlantic jet stream.
The meteorologist said: “What effect (the bomb cyclone) has had is to strengthen the jet stream because the jet stream is basically driven by temperature differences.
“So the starker the difference in temperature between the northern edge of it and southern edge, the stronger the jet stream becomes.”
He said the knock-on effect for the UK is spells of wet and windy weather over the next seven to 10 days.
Partridge explained: “So the knock-on effect is that, like today, we had a spell of wet, windy weather – and there will be further spells of wet and windy weather.”
Thursday is forecast to be colder than Wednesday, with sunshine and some heavy showers in northern Scotland and western England, as well as a risk of hail and thunder.
Mr Partridge said that Thursday will be a “cooler feeling day” but “still rather windy and with showers” across the UK, while Friday to Sunday is forecast to be unsettled, with snow over the Highlands, showers and rain in southern England, and frosts and fog overnight.
He added: “And then on Friday we’ll see another spell of wet, windy weather with milder temperatures and then similar sorts of patterns to that over the next few days.
“So the general sort of knock-on effect of the weather in the US is that in general the UK is going to be a little bit milder than it would normally be at this time of year.”
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