Weather warning: Northern Ireland braced for storm disruption on Saturday

The Met Office yellow warning covers Northern Ireland and the entire west coast of England and Scotland.

Forecasters said the stormy conditions could cause a small risk of danger to life and injuries.

Snow and rain is expected to cause disruption in central Scotland in the early hours of Friday morning, and the yellow warning for Scotland is in place from 2am for rain, and 3am for snow, until 9am on Friday.

For the rest of the affected area, the yellow warning is in place from 8am to 10pm on Saturday – bringing potential disruption and power cuts to some areas.

According to the Met Office, heavy rain at first on Saturday will soon clear to bring sunny spells and blustery showers.

Strong winds will continue on Sunday with scattered showers.

"Winds easing Monday, further rain arriving into the afternoon,” the Met Office said.

Kathleen will be the 11th named storm of the 2023/24 season, and becomes only the second to reach the letter K, after Storm Katie in March 2016.

RAC breakdown spokesman Rod Dennis urged drivers to slow down, keep a firm grip on the steering wheel and be prepared for a buffeting effect if overtaking high-sided vehicles.

Mr Dennis said: “This intense period of stormy weather is going to prove extremely challenging for anyone driving on the western side of the UK.

“We strongly urge drivers to avoid exposed coasts and higher routes where the impact of the very strong winds is most likely to be felt.”

England saw a record amount of rainfall in the 18 months to March.

Figures released this week showed that 1,695.9mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024.

This beat the previous record of 1,680.2mm, which had been set only the month before and covered the 18 months from September 2022 to February 2024.

This is the highest level for any 18-month period in England since comparable data began in 1836, according to analysis by the PA news agency of Met Office provisional statistics.