Weather warnings issued across all four nations amid heavy rain and strong winds
The Met Office has warned of possible flooding for parts of the UK as heavy rain and strong winds are forecast for the weekend ahead.
Weather warnings have been issued across all four nations of the UK, as heavy rain and strong winds are set to cause disruption this weekend.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for wind and rain in parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between Friday and Sunday.
London and parts of central and southern England are the only areas which are expected to miss the worst of the weather.
The forecaster has warned of possible flooding in parts of Scotland, South Wales, and the south west of England over the course of the weekend.
Warnings issued for Friday are in place until around 6pm, affecting major cities including Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.
Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: “We are in a very unsettled period of weather at the moment, with the exception perhaps being a slightly better situation tomorrow, but certainly there are weather warnings affecting pretty much all parts of the UK today.”
The Environment Agency has issued two flood warnings in Wiltshire, with 25 flood alerts across southern England, and one along the east coast near Bridlington.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued one flood warning in Perth and Kinross and seven flood alerts across Scotland.
“Due to heavy and persistent rain, flood alerts are in place for the south west and north east throughout Friday and in to Saturday morning,” the Sepa said in a post on X.
“Localised flooding from rivers and surface water of low lying land, individual properties and roads is possible and may cause disruption to transport routes.”
Police Scotland said ferry services from Dumfries and Galloway to Northern Ireland have been cancelled due to stormy weather warnings.
Wales and Northern Ireland have not issued any flood warnings, but there are two flood alerts in place in South Wales.
The Met Office warned of travel delays and loss of power, with winds reaching 70mph for parts of the country.
Saturday is expected to be a drier day while Sunday will see new warnings of heavy rain and strong winds from 7am until 9pm for most of the country.
“On Sunday, we have a large area of low pressure coming in and bringing very wet and windy conditions,” Mr Madge said.
“Pretty much everywhere from the southern tips of Cornwall up to Yorkshire and then up to including everywhere north and west of that in the UK is affected by patterns of rain and wind.”
The Met Office said it will continue to monitor the warnings and will escalate where necessary, keeping a close eye on South Wales.
Despite the wet and windy weather, temperatures will be warmer, with highs of 15C in London and 13-14C in Edinburgh and Belfast.
“With rainfall in the area at the moment and with further expected on Sunday, that could present quite challenging conditions for local communities in South Wales,” Mr Madge added.
“The weather pattern that we’ve got at the moment is it’s really a tropical flow that’s set up, coming in from much further south in the Atlantic, so that’s got mild and moist air flow associated with it that’s responsible for bringing sort of today’s wind and rain.
“In the weekend that will be amplified by this low pressure, which is currently building off Canada and will come across the Atlantic to affect us by Sunday.”
