Heavy rain and 70mph winds to batter Britain as Storm Bert blows away cold snap

Temperatures plunged well below freezing in parts of the UK overnight, with Friday dawning frosty and icy.
But the snow and ice is set to give way to strong winds and rain as Storm Bert is set to strike over the weekend.
The second named storm of the season is forecast to reach Britain on Saturday, and is expected to bring heavy rain, strong winds and disruptive snow to parts of the UK through the weekend.
Storm Bert could potentially cause travel disruption and flooding, the Met Office said.
Temperatures dropped to minus 10C in northern Scotland overnight.
Several yellow warnings for snow and ice are in place across the UK until 10am on Friday, with one covering parts of Scotland in effect until midday, before a slew of further yellow alerts for wind, rain and snow go live on Saturday.
An amber alert for heavy snow and ice will be in force between 7am and 5pm on Saturday in an area north of Scotland’s central belt, where 10-20cm is likely on ground above 200 metres and potentially as much as 20-40cm on hills above 400 metres.
The warning covers parts of Angus, Perth and Kinross, Stirlingshire, Aberdeenshire and some of the Highlands and Argyll and Bute.
There are likely to be “heavy” outbreaks of rain throughout Saturday, “falling as snow” at times across northern parts of England and parts of Scotland.
The wintry weather affected education, with more than 114 schools shut in the Highland Council area on Thursday because of snow, including Inverness Royal Academy where pupils were told their prelim exams planned for the day will be rescheduled.
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Almost 40 schools in Aberdeenshire were also shut while many others had delayed openings, and in Moray around 12 were closed and others opened late.
It comes after more than 100 schools or nurseries were closed in Scotland on Wednesday because of the weather.
South of the border, 89 schools were shut in Devon on Thursday, 18 in Dorset and 60 in Cornwall, while in Wales around 10 were closed in Conwy, 18 in Denbighshire and two in Wrexham.
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