THE Met Office has upgraded a weather warning from 'yellow' to 'amber' with gusts of up to 80mph forecast to hit Scotland.
Storm Malik will bring very strong winds and disruption across eastern Scotland on Saturday, according to the Met Office.
An amber weather alert for Tayside & Fife, Grampian and southwest Scotland has been put in place now from 7am and 3pm on Saturday.
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From 4am on Saturday, January 29, the majority of Scotland will remain covered by the yellow weather warning for wind until at least 3pm.
Forecasters have warned that an area of strong winds will cross Scotland on Saturday morning before easing during the afternoon.
Floods warnings have been issued by SEPA affecting parts of the north and northwest of Scotland.
READ MORE: Flood alerts issued for Scotland due to Storm Malik chaos
⚠️⚠️ AMBER weather warning issued ⚠️⚠️
— Met Office (@metoffice) January 28, 2022
Wind across parts of eastern Scotland
Saturday 0700 – 1500
Latest info 👉 https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs
Stay #WeatherAware ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/XA4s3J2ojY
The Met Office said: "An area of very strong west or northwest winds will cross Scotland on Saturday morning in association with Storm Malik before easing during the afternoon.
"The strongest winds are expected in the east of Scotland later in the morning.
"Gusts of widely 50-60 mph are likely with a short period of gusts in excess of 75 mph, particularly for Moray and North Aberdeenshire as well as the Lothians."
An amber weather warning means there is an increased likelihood of impacts from severe weather.
People travelling have been warned that road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible and some roads and bridges may close.
National Rail has announced that they will be putting in speed restrictions as the high winds hit in the early hours of Saturday.
Speed restrictions will be introduced on parts of the Dundee-Aberdeen, Aberdeen-Inverness, Far North, West Highland and Kyle lines on Saturday morning into the early afternoon.
The East Coast Mainline, North Berwick branch line, and Borders Railway will also be affected.
The latest satellite pictures show high pressure to the south of the UK continuing to bring a settled afternoon in southern areas
— Met Office (@metoffice) January 28, 2022
Further north however there are signs of #StormMalik with plenty more cloud and increasing winds ahead of this weekend pic.twitter.com/O6GUg8MOC0
There has also been warning that power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage.
Some damage to buildings, such as tiles blown from roofs, could happen and injuries and danger to life could occur from flying debris as well as from large waves and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts, coastal roads and properties.
On the Shetland Islands, the yellow weather warning will be in place slightly from 12pm until 8pm on Saturday.
Two further yellow weather warnings are also in place on Sunday night and Monday night across the whole country from 6pm until midnight.
The Deputy First Minister has chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Room to ensure Ministers are up to date on preparations.
Both the Transport Scotland Resilience Room and the Multi-Agency Response Team will be stood up for the duration of the warning to monitor conditions.
Traffic Scotland will be providing updates on social media, as well as their website and radio broadcasts, from the National Traffic Control Centre.
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