The Met Office have recently upgraded their weather warning to Amber which means “Be Prepared” for heavy rain and the associated risk of flooding for a swathe of the South East today and this evening.
When is the warning for?
The warning commences at 3pm today and expires this evening at 11pm, however there could be some impacts outside of that time frame.
Where is the warning for?
The warning is for a swathe of South East England, running from Greater London and the home counties and into Kent.
Met Office Amber weather warning, for heavy rain today:
The warning is for heavy rain, thanks to a persistent rain band that will be affecting the country through much of today. Approximately 50-60mm could fall within a space of just 5 to 6 hours in the Amber warning area from the Met Office, producing a real risk of river and surface water flooding. Although there hasn’t been that much rain recently and as a result the surface is fairly “unsaturated”, there could still well be some impacts today in terms of disruption to travel and general disruption due to flooded roads for example.
There are also lower level “yellow”, “be aware” warnings in force for a larger swathe of the country today, meaning you should be aware about the low risk:
Scotland and Northern Ireland remain warning free during this time frame.
Our attention now turns to Wednesday and Thursday for the next spell of heavy rain. Widely 30-40mm of rain is likely to fall during this time across more northern areas, perhaps into Northern England, however more especially the Midlands, Lincolnshire. Some spots may see over 50mm, however, and I’d say the Met Office could issue an Amber weather warning for this event as it comes into the short range time frame. Once again there could be some travel disruption, with warnings covering a large swathe of more northern areas for Wednesday and Thursday:
A lot is going on with the weather at the moment, a big contrast to the hot dry Summer of 2018. Use this link for more information on weather warnings issued by the met office.