UK weather – Soggy Britain endures MORE rain but forecasters promise warm weather IS on the way
SOGGY Britain will endure MORE rain over the weekend – but forecasters have promised warm weather IS on the way.
Heavy thundery downpours are expected to sweep the country by Sunday, meteorologists have warned.
However, no weather warnings have as yet been issued for the weekend.
More rain is on the way after some parts of the UK were deluged by over a month’s worth of downpours in the first 17 days of August.
The Met Office said a band of rain will sweep across the country, from west to east, with a chance of flooding in some central and eastern areas of England on Sunday.
But temperatures will climb to around 20C in northern areas, and London could see 25C on Friday and Sunday.
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said up to 40mm of rain could hit parts of Northern Ireland and south-west England over 24 hours on Saturday, and the northern Pennines on Sunday.
This comes after London and Northern Ireland have experienced a particularly wet August.
For Friday, early bright and sunny spells will be enjoyed by some first thing, “but thick cloud will soon build during the morning”, warns Meteogroup UK.
Showers and rain will spread across Northern Ireland and into parts of western Britain later today, with “rain expected to be locally heavy”, it adds.
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And then on Friday night, rain across Northern Ireland will spread into Scotland and parts of western Britain during the evening.
This band of showers is predicted to deluge the rest of the UK over the weekend.
Mr Partridge said the worst of the downpours are likely to land on western areas on Saturday, and in the Midlands and eastern areas on Sunday.
He added: “Friday is looking fairly dry and we could see 24 or 25C which will probably be around the London area.
“It could be fairly unsettled with some rain on Saturday, with the driest day being Friday.
“The east and south east will remain fairly dry on Saturday, while in the west it will be quite a wet affair.
“Sunday could be wet in some places and we might need some rainfall warnings.
“It does look as if the Midlands and eastern areas could have a pretty wet Sunday – but there’s also a lot of uncertainty in it.”
Hull, Norwich, Newcastle, and Aberdeen are among eastern areas to be hit by heavy rain on Sunday, with breeze coming off the North Sea.
But, the good news is that after a few more days of rain, warm weather will reach our shores, says Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin.
He said: “There are signs of drier and sunnier weather ahead, coming next week.”
The low pressure sweeping across Britain is being followed by high pressure.
“That high may well dominate for much of next week.
“It will be drier, sunnier and warmer – and as it’s August there’s still some power left in the sun so it will feel a fair bit warmer next week,” Mr Deakin added.
This was echoed by Netweather TV, which said: “Next week high pressure tries to build in and settle the weather down which might last for the late August Bank holiday.
“That would bring something fine and drier, but it does not mean that there is a heatwave on the way.”
The Met Office’s long-range forecast, for August 24 till September 3, predicts: “Temperatures are likely to be a little above average for this time the of year.”
DAMP BRITAIN
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said the City of London has had 117 per cent of its usual August rainfall already.
He added that 60mm of rain fell on the capital up to August 17 compared with 51mm usually seen over the entire month.
Northern Ireland has had 90mm of rain – 90 per cent of its 97mm average for the month.
East Anglia and north-east England have been the driest areas, having only had 43 per cent of their average August rainfall so far at 24mm and 30mm respectively.
The Sun reported that this summer is already one of the most miserable for a decade, statistics reveal.