There's no chance for a breather at the moment, as even though storm Barney is out of the way now, another low pressure system is following hot on its heels, this time crossing the north of Scotland later on today.

Ahead of the low, we have some heavy rain on the scene, it'll zip through quite speedily from the northwest of the country, and then take it's time getting down into the southeast during the day - becoming lighter and more showery as it does. Track it on the radar here.

Behind the rain band, heavy, thundery and squally showers will follow into western parts, spreading some way inland. It's not just about the rain though, we also have another spell of windy weather to contend with. Already this morning there are southwesterly gales affecting Irish channel coasts, and these will last into the afternoon, before a brief easing of the strongest gusts, ahead of the next period of windy weather later.



A little uncertainty exists on the precise track of the low, and the stronger winds may just be a bit further north than shown above. They'll affect Northern Ireland, Irish Channel coastal areas, western, central and southern Scotland, along with northwest England during the latter part of the day, where severe gales are likely in exposed parts.

The high winds continue to blow overnight too, making their way further east, before clearing away through into the north sea as the low pressure system which bought them eases away toward Scandinavia.



Tomorrow then brings with it something of a lull, but a lull in the context of the very active weather we've been seeing rather than a day where there's absolutely nothing going on. We'll still have a pretty brisk and gusty westerly wind with us, and we'll also have some rain around. These will be in the form of showers in the northwest, some of which will again be heavy and thundery - turning wintry from the north later in the day too as winds swing into the north. Further south and east, many eastern and central regions will have a dry day with some sunny spells, but head further south and you'll run into some rain affecting southern England and south Wales at times.

Transitioning into the first cold snap of the season

Friday is the main transition day as we move into the first cold snap of the season, with colder air digging south, coupled with some wintry showers - these more frequent near to coasts and across the north of Scotland. The colder air will take until later in the day to reach the far south, where there may be some rain left over from Thursday still to clear during the morning.