Severe gales and flooding are likely to hit northern England from Monday, says the Met Office.

The remnants of Hurricane Katia, which hit America last week, are making their way across the Atlantic.

Winds of up to 70mph are predicted to hit north-west Scotland, with northern England, Northern Ireland and north Wales expected to be affected.

But experts said it is still too early to make any clear predictions on the effects on the country's weather.

Chief forecaster at the Met Office, Eddie Carroll said: "Although it will be very windy everywhere, it is uncertain as to exactly which parts of the country will see the very strongest winds.

"At the moment we have a warning out across a large part of northern and western UK to cover the possibilities, but we do expect to update that warning across the weekend."

Meteo Group forecaster Michael Dukes added: "It looks likely this will be a significant storm event for mid-September.

"Strong winds of up to 70mph have been predicted, which could result in trees coming down, causing major structural damage and travel delays.

"Inevitably with the remnants of a tropical storm, there will also be a risk of flash flooding.

"The hurricane is moving slowly at the moment and current predictions show that the remnants of the storm will hit north-west Scotland by Monday.

"But the exact track of Katia is difficult to predict and it may change over the next few days."

Forecasters say the predicted high winds could coincide with high tides and western coasts in particular are at risk from localised flooding.

Winds are expected to ease during the week but it will remain blustery across much of the country.

Katia is the second major hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season and was rated as a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale at its peak.

The scale rates hurricanes from one to five, with five being the strongest.