Edinburgh weather: Yellow weather warning as Storm Ashley brings strong winds and heavy rain

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A yellow weather warning for wind has been issued by the Met Office, effective from 3am until midnight on Sunday. It covers the whole of Scotland and Northern Ireland and stretches down the west coast of England and Wales.

A more severe amber warning has been issued from 9am on Sunday for the west coast of Scotland north of Glasgow, where forecasters said gusts of 80mph could bring injuries and danger to life, as well as power cuts, disruption and damage to buildings.

The yellow warning is effective from 3am until midnight on Sunday | Met Office

Storm Ashley is the first named storm of the season and is expected to hit the Republic of Ireland first, before moving on to Scotland and the rest of the UK., bringing winds and heavy rain.

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Tony Wisson, said: “Storm Ashley will bring strong winds for most of the UK on Sunday before it clears on Monday, with a chance of some disruption across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Northwest England and West Wales.

“A period of especially strong winds are expected on Sunday afternoon and evening in western Scotland, where gusts could potentially reach 70-80mph in exposed areas and an Amber warning for winds has been issued here.

“More generally 50-60 mph are possible in some inland areas in other parts of the warning area, especially Northern Ireland and western Scotland, and perhaps up to 60-70 mph along exposed coasts and hills. These strong winds in conjunction with high spring tides, may cause some disruption.” 

Historic Environment Scotland warned Storm Ashley could force the closure of Edinburgh Castle. It tweeted: “Due to the weather warning for this weekend, we might need to close the castle at short notice to ensure safety of our staff and visitors.”

Network Rail Scotland said it was likely trains n the north west of Scotland would be slowed down for safety reasons from Sunday afternoon until the storm passed. It added: “Our staff will be carrying out proactive checks over the weekend of known flood sites, and our fixed pumps. Track, signalling, power and overhead line engineers will be on standby across the country, ready to respond to any disruption.”

Police Scotland advised motorists to make sure their vehicles had sufficient fuel and were completely roadworthy, ensure their mobile phones were fully charged in case they needed to call for assistance and, if they were making long journeys, to take additional clothing and water.