Weather warning for heavy rain this weekend

This weekend will see much of the UK experience weather that hasn’t been seen for quite some time, with an area of low pressure bringing heavy rain.

Much of July brought a good deal of fine and settled weather, with provisional stats from the Met Office showing that it has been warmer, drier and sunnier than normal.

Temperatures and sunshine amounts have been above average by 1.2C and 22 per cent, respectively, with rainfall 24 per cent below average. 

This has been due to the jet stream spending much of the month to the north of the UK, steering areas of low pressure towards Iceland and northern Scandinavia, leaving us to bask in warmth and sunshine under the influence of high pressure.

However, this weekend, the weather is set to change markedly. The jet stream is going to dip south of the UK, causing an area of low pressure to develop over the us, bringing heavy rain.

Weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office, with the focus of the greatest rainfall amounts across northern and western areas, where there is a risk of localised flooding.

Saturday

Saturday will be the day that heavy rain affects the greatest number of people, as low pressure drifts northwards, bringing showers or longer spells of heavy rain.

The heaviest and most persistent rain will be across south west England, Wales, north west England and south west Scotland, where 50mm could fall in some places in just 12 hours, bringing a risk of localised flooding.

Elsewhere, the rain will fall in the form of heavy, thundery showers, meaning that some places could see a lot of rain, whereas other places just up the road could see very little – a common theme given the hit and miss nature of showers.

Sunday

On Sunday, the focus of the heavy rain will be across the north of the UK, for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England.

Again, as much as 50mm of rain could fall in 12 hours, bringing a risk of localised flooding – especially in the places that will have already seen some rain on Saturday.

Another factor will be a strengthening wind, with northern and western parts of Scotland seeing gales, as wind gusts reach 40-50mph.

However, the rest of the UK will have a much quieter day on Sunday, with a ridge of high pressure building to give a dry day with sunny spells.

First half of August

Looking further ahead into the first half of August, there are signs that the weather won’t offer us the prolonged spells of warmth and sunshine that characterised July.

This is because the positon of the jet stream is going to vary a lot more than during the past month, meaning that the weather will be more changeable.

So, while there will be warm, sunny days, they will be interspersed with cloudier days and occasional rain – especially in the north and west.

Don’t forget, you can get the latest forecast on the Channel 4 Weather website. I’ll also be posting regular updates on Twitter – @liamdutton