Britain is preparing to be battered by winds of 70mph and torrential rain this weekend as Storm Brian sweeps in, though the north of Scotland should avoid the brunt of it.
On the south coast of England, steel barricades were set up as the country prepared for wild conditions caused by a “weather bomb” over the Atlantic Ocean.
Widespread traffic chaos is expected, with the worst weather forecast across southern and western England and west Wales.
Cornwall prepared for the onslaught, with barricades put in place that were already preventing water lapping up into the town of Fowey.
The harsh conditions come less than a week after Storm Ophelia, which wreaked havoc in England, Wales and particularly in Ireland, where three people were killed due to falling trees.
Despite people in the south of the UK preparing for carnage, the north of Scotland is expected to escape the most extreme conditions.
Graham Madge, Met Office spokesman, said: “There is going to be a fair bit of wind and rain in parts of Scotland, mainly the south and west, on Saturday morning. But the skies should be clearing in the north of Scotland. The winds don’t look too bad in the north, it shouldn’t be anything more than you’re used to. There will be some rain in the evening.
“Going into Sunday, a few showers could pop up, especially in the west and the Highlands, but the east should remain quite clear.”
However flights to and from Shetland were grounded last night as the fog became too thick for planes to be able to land safely.
Loganair cancelled all of its Shetland flights for the rest of the day after the airline’s services from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow had to be diverted.
Operations director Maurice Boyle said the decision left around 200 people stranded in Shetland and on the Scottish mainland.
Loganair managed to get some passengers booked on the overnight ferries to and from Aberdeen, but they are now fully booked.
Mr Boyle said the company was working to put on extra flights on Saturday morning, but flight times had not been confirmed last night.
He said passengers would be informed of the new flight times as soon as possible and apologised for the inconvenience caused.
Rival airline Flybe also had to divert its afternoon flight from Glasgow and has already cancelled its Edinburgh flight.