After a few unbroken days of hot and sunny weather were brought to a dramatic end with thunderstorms and heavy rain, it looks like we’ll be seeing more unsettled conditions in the days to come.
The promise of sunshine and warm weather will probably tempt many to leave the house to visit the park or beach this weekend – but make sure you pack an umbrella as well.
Flood alerts and a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms were in place on Thursday, with all but a couple of the flood alerts lifted by Friday morning.
Alerts for the Rivers Eden and Eden Brook covering Kent, Sussex and Surrey, and Upper River Loddon in Hampshire, were still in place on Friday evening.
The Met Office says almost a month’s worth of rain fell in an hour in Greater London on Thursday evening – and throughout the weekend there will be more changeable weather to come.
Discussing the heavy rainfall on Thursday, Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said: ‘An Environment Agency rain gauge at New Addington, Greater London, recorded 53.4mm of rain as part of those thundery outbreaks.’
That’s compared to the average total rainfall for August in the same area of 56mm.
‘What’s replacing the previous weather regime is a transition back to more changeable conditions for the UK, albeit still retaining some level of sunshine at times,’ Stephen told the Bristol Post.
Chief Meteorologist Andy Page added: ‘The recent influence of high pressure on the UK’s weather is now subsiding and is being replaced by more of a dominant westerly weather regime.
‘This is seeing temperatures dip back towards average for the time of year for many but will also open the door to some more persistent rain into northwestern areas in the coming days.’
Currently the Met Office is predicting Saturday will be dry and fine for most of England and Wales, except for a few heavy showers in southern and eastern England.
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Western and northern Scotland and Northern Ireland will also see showers throughout the day.
But by Sunday, Atlantic weather fronts will bring more persistent rain for Northern Ireland, western Scotland, and the north west of England.
The Met Office reckons this band of rain will be fairly slow moving, bringing heavier bursts of rain through to Monday.
The forecaster adds: ‘Further south, while Sunday will still be mainly dry for England and Wales, a more unsettled feel to the weather is likely early next week, with a band of rain gradually drifting from the north west further to the south east.
‘Ahead of this, we are likely to see a build of warmth and humidity once more, though not as hot as in recent days, and the small chance of some thunderstorms developing in this warmer airmass over south east England on Tuesday.’
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