Britain faces another week of rain and wind, with forecasters predicting strong gusts will sweep across the country, potentially bringing down trees and power lines and causing disruption to travel.

The Met Office has issued two yellow warnings for high winds, one covering much of Northern Ireland on Tuesday, coming into effect at 3pm and finishing at midnight. The second warning affects most of England and runs from midnight to 3pm on Wednesday.

Yellow is the lowest on the Met Office’s matrix but is issued when it is likely weather will cause “low level impacts, including disruption to travel”.

The Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said Northern Ireland could experience gusts of up to 70mph, while speeds of around 50mph could be widespread across England, reaching up to 65mph in coastal areas.

“From those wind gusts we are likely to see travel disruption – it affects the rush hours – and we could see damage to trees and power lines,” Dewhurst added.

A band of heavy rain would also move south-eastwards, followed by heavy showers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Temperatures would be around 10C, the average for this time of year, but the wind would make it feel colder.

Last week Storm Freya brought 80mph winds and heavy snow to areas of northern England and Scotland. The Met Office recorded 6cm of snow at a weather station near the border between Cumbria and Northumberland.

Hundreds of homes had no electricity after power lines came down, and rail links and roads, including the M4 motorway in Wales, were closed by snow, rain and strong winds.