Heavy rain and severe gale force winds expected across the Channel Islands as warnings issued

I've been talking about this deep area of low pressure all week.

There was some uncertainty over the weather system's tracking and depth but it's set to cause disruption across the Channel Islands tonight and tomorrow morning, perhaps even further afield in the form of very wet and very windy weather.

MeteoFrance has named it Storm Mathis.

Jersey Met has issued a severe gale force 9 warning for the shipping area for tonight and tomorrow morning - perhaps even briefly a storm force 10.

This means we could see wind gusts in excess of 70 mph. So if you are heading out tonight or tomorrow morning do take extra care and leave longer for your journeys.

Across the islands, we are set to see south-westerly to westerly gale force 8 to severe gale force 9 winds - with gusts around 65mph.

Add on some heavy bursts of rain and it could be a rather unpleasant and disruptive night and morning. We could see up to 20mm of rainfall in a very short space of time.

The weather conditions could cause some disruption at the airports and on the roads tomorrow morning for anyone heading to work and school.

There are widespread cancellations on Condor Ferries for Friday across its Liberation, Voyager and Clipper services so do check if you were supposed to travel.

There is a yellow wind warning in force for southern coastal stretches of the UK and the Isle of Wight until midday tomorrow which has been issued by the UK Met office.

The good news is that things should settle down by lunchtime on Friday - it will still be blustery (force 6 to force 7) but we should see some sunny spells.

Watch the latest weather forecast for the Channel Islands here.