Wind, rain and sleet to hammer the west

And it was all due to kick off this afternoon, with 50mph gusts due to hammer the city and surrounding area between 3pm and 6pm.

It is expected to get worse later tonight.

Forecaster Ben Windsor, based at the MeteoGroup, said: "Winds will be gusting up to 60mph between 6pm and midnight, though they will drop back down to 50mph through to 6am tomorrow."

Shoppers won't just be bracing themselves for chilly winds. Forecasters are warning there is likely to be torrential rain in Glasgow tonight, too.

Mr Windsor said: "There won't be snow, just a lot of heavy rain."

Wind gusts will also be lighter for the rest of Wednesday. They are not expected to be stronger than 40mph tomorrow, but it will be breezy for most of the day with a constant wind factor of 15-20mph.

Thursday and Friday will also be breezy, with variable wind speeds of 10-15mph.

The wet weather is expected to continue through to tomorrow morning.

Forecaster Mr Windsor added: "It looks like there will be more heavy rain across Glasgow tomorrow between 6pm and 10pm.

"There could well be heavy showers returning from midnight Wednesday through to Thursday with snow on the high ground. There's a chance of wintry showers with rain and sleet on Thursday."

The showers are expected to continue until early on Friday only to return with a vengeance in the afternoon.

Mr Windsor warned: "The charts indicate there will be a new band of heavy rain moving from the west on Friday afternoon and at the same time there will be a moderate breeze."

There is no respite

expected in the coming days, either. Winds are set to pick up again overnight on Friday through to Saturday.

Conditions on Saturday are expected to be fresh and during the day the wind speed should be around 22mph, which is typical for this time of the year.

While the forecast for the rest of the week may not be pleasant, wind gusts are

not expected to be as bad

as those that caused

widespread damage earlier this month.