Rain showers on Monday morning are forecast to give way to gale-force winds later in the day, meteorologists are predicting. 

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning as a result. 

A wind funnel off Wied iż-Żurrieq on Monday.

The projection is for a windy day with isolated showers, but while the bulk of the showers are expected in the morning, the wind will pick up during the day.

The MIA Met Office said a West Southwest force 7 wind will veer West Northwest force 7 locally and increase to force 8  for some time in the afternoon. Winds will blow at force 7 overnight.

The wind and rough sea have caused problems for people planning to travel to Sicily with their cars for Christmas.

Virtu Ferries has cancelled trips on Monday and Tuesday. Bad weather also forced it to cancel trips last Friday and Saturday, but it laid on extra trips on Sunday and gave advanced warnings of the cancellations for the start of the week. 

Gozo High Speed also cancelled trips between Valletta and Mġarr, Gozo for Monday and Tuesday.

The windy weather will serve as prelude to a relatively chilly Christmas Day. Temperatures on December 25 are expected to reach a high of 14 degrees Celsius, lower than the 17.2 degree norm for this time of year. 

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