Dumfries and Galloway to be battered by 38 hours of gale force winds in run-up to Christmas

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Dumfries and Galloway is set to be battered by 38 hours of gale force winds in the run up to Christmas.The Met Office has extended a weather warning to cover most of the weekend and is forecasting gusts of up to 70 mph.It’s likely to lead to travel delays at a time when many people are making journeys for the festive period.On Wednesday, the Met Office issued a warning for part of Saturday covering the west of Dumfries and Galloway.However, the new warning now covers the whole area and will last from 7am on Saturday morning until 9pm on Sunday.A Met Office forecaster said: “Strong westerly winds are expected to develop through the course of Saturday, with gusts of 50-60 mph developing quite widely across this region, and a small chance of gusts reaching 70 mph around some coasts and high ground areas.“This has the potential to cause delays to public transport and some disruption to the road network, which may have a greater than usual impact given the busier pre-Christmas weekend travel.

Dangerous coastal conditions can be expected too, with large waves an additional hazard.”Sunday’s bad weather is also likely to see “squally showers” and even hail and thunder.