Scotland is set to be battered by wind, rain and snow from Storm Gerrit.

The storm will bring strong winds and heavy rain  to many parts of the country on Wednesday, with wintry hazards also likely, forecasters warned.

Yellow wind, rain and snow warnings are in place across much of Scotland

Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said the storm was named as a warning to people coming home from the Christmas holidays.

He said: “Due to the extent of the warnings that are being issued, it was deemed that a named storm would be a good idea because it will highlight to the public the risk associated, particularly as tomorrow is likely to be quite a busy day on the roads with people travelling back home from Christmas and things like that.”

READ MORE: Met Office issues Scotland-wide warnings for heavy rain and snow

He said wet and windy weather will cover “pretty much the whole of the UK”, with significant snowfall in parts of Scotland.

A yellow rain and snow warning is in place from 6am to 9pm across much of Scotland on Wednesday.

“There are wind warnings out for the south of England, across the English Channel coast,” Mr Partridge added.

“But we also have wind warnings in force for parts of western Wales, north-west England, Northern Ireland, northern Scotland and the Northern Isles.”

A period of strong winds is likely across the Shetland Islands on Wednesday night, with a small chance that gusts could reach 75-85 mph at times.

“In terms of rain, we have rain warnings out for the whole of Northern Ireland, western Wales, north-west England, and then there’s a combined sort of rain and snow warning for Scotland,” Mr Partridge said.

Anywhere above 200 metres in Scotland and the Northern Isles is likely to see some snow, he added.

Outbreaks of heavy rain will bring the potential for disruption to travel and a risk of flooding in Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders on Wednesday.

20-30 mm of rain is expected to accumulate quite widely, with as much as 70-90 mm predicted in a few locations.