Fresh weather warning for Scotland ahead of Storm Lilian

A third weather warning in a week has been issued for parts of Scotland as Storm Lilian is set to sweep in.

Dumfries and Galloway was hit by the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto on Monday with western areas affected through Wednesday into Thursday.

Now another warning for rain has been issued for the south west from 21:00 on Thursday to 09:00 on Friday with Aberdeenshire and Angus coastal areas also affected.

A wind warning for much of northern England also stretches into southern Scotland from 05:00 to 11:00 on Friday with gusts up to 80mph (130km/h) forecast.

The latest warning follows a number of others earlier in the week.

The first largely covered Dumfries and Galloway while the second affected much of Scotland’s west coast.

High winds and heavy downpours hit many of the areas covered.

The A75 in Dumfries and Galloway has been shut for several hours at Cardoness near Gatehouse of Fleet due to a fallen tree.

Drivers reported delays of more than an hour as traffic was diverted off the main route across the region.

Events have also been affected with the Strathaven balloon festival – which was planned for the weekend – cancelled due to the forecast.

Organisers said their priority had to be safety which had prompted them to make the “reluctant decision”.