GLASGOW escaped the worst of the lashing rain and fierce wind as the remnants of Hurricane Bertha battered Britain.

Winds gusting at almost 50mph struck down south yesterday, while nearly a month's rainfall was dumped over parts of the country in just one night.

However, although it was a wet and miserable day for the west of Scotland, the predicted storm did not materialise in the city.

Forecasters at the Met Office issued weather warnings for large areas of Scotland and motorists were urged to take care.

The storm started as a hurricane in the Caribbean and brought winds of up to 90mph cutting off power to thousands of homes.

Although Bertha started off as a hurricane, it has now been downgraded to a storm.

Rachael Vince, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: "It is more of an autumnal storm. We did have that heatwave in July, so it will feel distinctly more autumnal this week as a whole.

"But we are in an unsettled spell of weather for this week with showers and perhaps some thunderstorms through the rest of the week."

rebecca.gray@eveningtimes.co.uk