THE North West is set to avoid the wet weather expected to hit Scotland this coming weekend, according to the national forecast.

Heavy rain is forecast to cover north-west Scotland on Saturday and Sunday, just missing Cumbria.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for western Scotland, where rainfall totals on hills and mountains could exceed 120mm over the weekend. Chief Meteorologist, Steve Ramsdale, said: “There’s a bit of a north-south split in the weather for the UK this weekend, with wet and windy weather across the north and largely fine, dry conditions in the south.

“At the moment our focus is on parts of western Scotland. Although Saturday will start bright and breezy with a few showers, heavy and persistent rain and strong winds will arrive later in the day and continue through Sunday, before finally clearing on Monday. It’ll be a largely fine and dry weekend elsewhere though, with long spells of autumn sunshine.”