Weather warnings for strong winds have been issued for parts of the UK, with gusts up to 80mph possible.

Forecasters have said there could be gusts of 65-70mph, with a small chance of gusts of 75-80mph in a few locations, with rain and blustery showers accompanying the strongest winds.

The yellow warning for wind is in place for northern England, the Midlands, north Wales and parts of Scotland from 5am on Thursday until 8pm.

There is also a warning in place for Northern Ireland from 6am to 12pm on Thursday, where gusts could reach between 50-60mph for a short period, along with heavy rain.

Find out the forecast for your area

The Met Office said: “A period of strong winds, accompanied by heavy rain, is expected on Thursday with some transport disruption possible.”

A yellow warning for wind is already in place today for parts of northern Scotland.

It comes before temperatures are expected to drop across the country on Friday – with snow forecast in some areas.

Joanna Robinson, Sky News’s weather producer, said temperatures are expected to be “widely below average on Friday and Saturday before recovering slightly”.

“Friday will bring showers, with snow down to relatively low levels in the north, especially early on,” she added.

“There’ll be fewer showers around on Saturday, and the snow risk will become increasingly confined to the highest hills.”

It also comes after provisional figures from the Met Office at the start of March held that this past winter was the wettest on record for parts of the UK.

Share

From February: Why is the UK so wet?

According to their figures, Cornwall, Leicestershire and the West Midlands experienced their wettest winter since comparable records started in 1836.

Elsewhere, Dorset and Warwickshire had their second wettest winter, while southern England experienced its fourth wettest.

The period also saw the UK as a whole record 13% more rainfall than the long-term average.

Read more from Sky News:
First Mandelson files to be published today after PMQs
March banned to ‘prevent serious public disorder’

Three named storms in January – Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra – all brought downpours to many areas, leading to flooding and widespread travel disruption.

and in February, there were some of the lowest sunshine totals on record for all four UK nations, despite “exceptionally mild conditions”.