TORRENTIAL rain and a 20cm snow bomb are set to hit Britain over the weekend with 37 flood warnings in place.
Yellow snow warnings are also in place for Scotland today, and have been issued in Wales and parts of England for Saturday – with the potential for 10-15cm in the West Midlands.
An angry band of heavy rain continues to stalk the UK, leaving up 40-50 mm of rainfall across parts of Dartmoor and along the south coast of Cornwall.
The MetOffice warns Brits to prepare for flooding – telling them to expect travel delays and damage to some properties.
Follow our weather live blog below for the latest news and updates from around the country
- Patrick Knox
YELLOW WEATHER WARNING
- Patrick Knox
RAIN TO CLEAR FOR A DRY NIGHT
Rain expected to settle in for the afternoon over much of the UK will likely clear for a dryer night.
"Mostly light rain in the evening will move away eastwards to leave the rest of the night dry but largely cloudy," Met Office said.
Winds would likely ease, and minimum temperatures would hover around 3C.
- Ben Hill
LONDON AND SOUTH EAST FORECAST
Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:
Dry Sunday and cold, but cloudy. Some rain, perhaps brief snow overnight. Fine, dry but cold Monday. Further rain and strong winds clearing northeast Tuesday morning and turning milder.
- Ben Hill
ROUGHING IT
A windsurfer surfs in the rough sea off of West Wittering beach in West Sussex.
- Ben Hill
DANGEROUS ICY CONDITIONS
Large swathes of the UK will see heavy snow in the coming days, with forecasters warning of dangerous icy conditions.
The Met Office has issued yellow snow and ice warnings across the North East and large parts of Scotland on Friday and Saturday, while much of England and Wales will see similar conditions between Monday and Wednesday.
Almost 8in (20cm) of snow could fall in the worst affected regions, with the Met Office warning that people may experience delays to travel, power cuts and risk of injury due to ice.
Forecasters say some rural communities could become "cut off" due to the downpours.
- Ben Hill
LONDON AND SOUTH EAST FORECAST
From the Met Office:
Today:
A rather cloudy and breezy start, with showery outbreaks of rain, clearing east. Some brighter or sunny spells following for a time, with winds easing a little. Further cloud then likely into the evening, perhaps some drizzle across hills. Maximum temperature 11 °C.
Tonight:
Staying rather cloudy overnight, and mostly dry until midnight. A band of rain then spreads northeast, reaching all parts by dawn, and turning heavy and persistent in places. Minimum temperature 2 °C.
Saturday:
Persistent band of rain at first, some snow possible, mainly over hills and along its northern edge. Rain and snow easing during the afternoon. Cold, and windy with coastal gales. Maximum temperature 5 °C.
- Ben Hill
SNOWY SPELL
The Met Office said the UK had experienced its snowiest spell since late January 2019, when 20 weather stations in England recorded accumulations of two inches (5cm) or more for three days consecutively.
The Environment Agency had 53 flood warnings in place at 5am on Friday, stretching from the Midlands to the North East, meaning immediate action is required.
The same area and the South West had 226 alerts meaning flooding was possible, while there were nine alerts in Scotland and eight in Wales.
- Ben Hill
HEAVY FLOODING
Pictures show heavy flooding hitting Essex.
Roads were left waterlogged in Chelmsford. There are three flood warnings and 17 flood alerts for Essex today.
- Ben Hill
KILLER STORM
At least 21 people are now known to have died, including 11 in Mozambique, four in Eswatini, three in Zimbabwe and two in South Africa, due to a by a super-storm that made landfall in Mozambique, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Thursday.
One person was also killed when a storm passed over the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar before making landfall.
More than 270,000 people have been affected by the storm, the vast majority in Mozambique, where over 20,000 people have been displaced and 20,500 houses damaged or destroyed.
- Ben Hill
NASTY DISEASE
Today's flood chaos, coupled with lockdown, has sparked fears of a new wave of Alabama Rot, the dreaded flesh-destroying disease that literally sees dogs eaten alive in front of their horrified owners.
Also called CGRV, it thrives in sodden fields and woods in the cold winter months, so the torrential rain, forecast of more snow is the perfect cocktail.
It's made even worse by the lockdown – far more people than usual are taking their dogs for walks in the countryside to stretch their legs and get some much-needed exercise.
- Ben Hill
AFRICAN SUPERSTORM
More than 21 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands affected by a super-storm that made landfall in Mozambique last week, causing heavy flooding across swathes of southern Africa, the United Nations said.
Tropical cyclone Eloise hit central Mozambique on Saturday, packing winds of up to 150 kilometres (93 miles) per hour and torrential rain.
It slammed into the province of Sofala, an area still reeling from two deadly cyclones in 2019, before weakening into an overland depression, moving inland towards Zimbabwe, Botswana and northern South Africa.
- Ben Hill
FORECAST
Tonight will see a few wintry showers across northeast coasts, but it will be dry with clear spells and widespread frost in north. It will be cloudier in the south with rain spreading eastwards overnight.
Tomorrow it is expected to be dry and sunny in the north. There will be rain across central and southern UK, falling as snow over Welsh hills and then across some southern parts before clearing away south during the afternoon.
There will be a cold, frosty start on Sunday, before rain and snow arrives from the southwest. Much of the country will see a dry day on Monday, with further rain and snow then spreading northeast.
- Ben Hill
FLOODED ROADS
Motorists struggled to drive along flooded roads in St Ives in Cambridgeshire this morning after the River Great Ouse burst its banks following heavy rain last night.
Meadows around St Ives were also deep under water this morning after the Environment Agency issued 56 flood warnings and 230 flood alerts.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain in the South West until 3pm tomorrow.
Rain, sleet and snow across Scotland are set to move slowly south this morning and there will be heavy, squally showers across southern UK.
- Ben Hill
BOOKIES SLASH ODDS ON WETTEST FEBRUARY
Bookmaker Coral this week slashed the odds on next month being the wettest February since records began to just 6-4 (from 3-1), with forecasts predicting a wet and wild start to the second month of the year.
"The start of February is going to be soaking wet and it's left us no choice but to slash the odds on it going down as the wettest second month of the year we have ever had," said Coral's Harry Aitkenhead.
Coral go 2-1 that the year 2021 enters the record books as the wettest in history.
- Ben Hill
DOWNPOURS LIKELY
On Saturday a further band of rain – linked to Storm Justine – will affect southern England and South Wales bringing downpours.
South Western hills and higher ground of southern Wales may also see some snowfall going into the weekend.
And snow is set to fall over the East and West Midlands, the North West, South West, Wales and parts of the South East from 3am on Saturday until 6pm.
The Met Office has warned that some areas may be cut off due to the extreme weather.
- Ben Hill
FLOOD WARNINGS
There are currently 52 flood warnings in England – with a further 226 alerts, meaning that people should be prepared for flooding.
Neil Davies, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Despite the treacherous conditions, we protected more than 49,000 homes and businesses across England from flooding during Storm Christoph, but with river catchments now extremely wet and sensitive to further rainfall on saturated ground, we have to remain vigilant to further flooding this winter.
“Our teams are out on the ground checking defences and clearing grilles and screens to make sure we are prepared for the next band of wet weather.”
- Ben Hill
SNOW ON THE WAY
Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Neil Armstrong, said: “A weather front moves north eastwards across the UK bringing rain which turns to snow as it pushes further north and meets with colder air.
"This system has prompted a number of warnings including a rain warning for Northern Ireland, while snow warnings will be in force for parts of northern England and Scotland.
“In locations higher than 200m across northern England and southern Scotland we could expect to see around 2-5cm of snowfall, but areas of similar elevation north of Glasgow and Edinburgh could see up to 20cm of snow.”
- Ben Hill
YELLOW WARNING
There is also a yellow weather warning in place for large swathes of the South West of England beginning at 8pm this evening and ending at 3pm on Saturday.
The warning, which stretches from Exeter to Penzance, states that an area of heavy rain may lead to surface water flooding and transport disruption.
And in eastern Scotland around the Aberdeen area, heavy rain is expected to cause travel disruption until midday – with 40mm to fall in some places.
- Ben Hill
WILD WEATHER
Power cuts may occur during the extreme weather, and other services such as mobile phone coverage may be affected.
It comes after large swathes of the UK were blanketed in snow last weekend.
The Met Office said the country had experienced its snowiest spell since late January 2019, when 20 weather stations in England recorded accumulations of two inches or more for three days consecutively.
- Ben Hill
SEVEN INCHES OF SNOW
Up to seven inches of snow is set to fall today as Britain braces for two days of flash floods and power cuts.
The Met Office has issued three yellow weather warnings as the UK also prepares for torrential rainfall this weekend.
Heavy snowfall will bring significant disruption to travel across parts of central and northern Scotland – with a yellow warning in place until midday.
- Abe Hawken
SNOW WAY
The Met Office said the UK had experienced its snowiest spell since late January 2019, when 20 weather stations in England recorded accumulations of two inches (5cm) or more for three days consecutively.
The Environment Agency had 53 flood warnings in place at 5am on Friday, stretching from the Midlands to the North East, meaning immediate action is required.
The same area and the South West had 226 alerts meaning flooding was possible, while there were nine alerts in Scotland and eight in Wales.
- Abe Hawken
BIG FREEZE
The lowest minimum temperature recorded across the UK by 11pm on Thursday was minus 6.8C (minua 20F) at Braemar in Aberdeenshire.
Yellow warnings for rain were in place across the Scottish coast from Perth to Aberdeen as well as further south in Devon and Cornwall early on Friday.
That warning for rain in Devon and Cornwall is repeated on Saturday, along with another for snow across much of Wales and areas including Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
- Abe Hawken
SNOW WARNINGS
Travel was expected to be disrupted on Friday due to warnings issued for snow and rain at opposite ends of the UK.
The Met Office placed a yellow warning across parts of central Scotland and the Highlands, adding that rural communities may become cut off, power cuts were possible and transport services were likely to be affected.
Forecasters said snowy conditions could bring “significant” disruption to travel across the region, with a warning in place from 4am on Thursday until midday on Friday.
- Shayma Bakht
SNOW ON SATURDAY TO HIT WEST MIDS
The Met Office has issued a Yellow Warning for snow tomorrow.
It has said: "An area of rain pushing in from the southwest through the early morning will readily turn to snow in places as it encounters colder air.
"There remains a good deal of uncertainty in how far north the rain and snow will get, before the band stalls and starts to move south again as it eases. 3-7 cm of snow is possible to low levels with the potential for 10-15 cm over high ground (above 200-300 m), mainly in Wales and the West Midlands.
"There is a very low chance of perhaps as much 20 cm over highest parts of the Shropshire and Snowdonia."
- Shayma Bakht
UK YELLOW WEATHER WARNINGS TOMORROW
Source: Read Full Article