SCOTS have been warned to batten down the hatches again with more high winds and rain expected to hit the ­country tomorrow.

The Met Office has issued yellow alerts for much of the country with a fresh period of unsettled weather predicted to arrive in the afternoon, bringing winds of up to 80mph to some areas and around 80mm of rain on high ground.

Glasgow, the Central Belt and coastal regions in the west of the country will see gusts of around 40-60mph in the afternoon, with periods of heavy rain expected to last well into the night.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "Starting off on Wednesday it will be fairly dry but the weather will deteriorate as we move into the afternoon and early evening.

"We're expecting 40mm of rain on lower levels with more on higher ground.

"At the same time it will get very windy and there could be local gusts of 80mph in northern areas.

"We are in the middle of a very changeable period of weather as we have what's called a mobile front of low pressure coming in off the Atlantic, and we expect that to continue for several weeks to come."

He said that temperatures will remain mild for this time of year with highs of around 10 degrees tomorrow dropping to around 7°C on Thursday.

Last week, parts of the country suffered severe gales and heavy rain as wind speeds reached 60-70mph.

West coast ferries and rail services were badly affected by the conditions and some football fixtures called off, while a number of major bridges were closed to ­high-sided vehicles.