UK set to be battered by 650-mile wide wall of rain

It’s set to be a washout weekend as Britain is battered by a huge band of rain. While most of the country will experience heavy downpours, some will see nearly one quarter of the month’s average rainfall.

Forecasters have said up to 10mm will fall in some parts of the country in just one hour after a ridge of low pressure moves in from the east on Friday night (November 17). It is predicted Cardiff and the surrounding areas will see around 8mm of rain fall within an hour overnight into Saturday and by around 9am, more than 10mm of rain will fall within one hour along the south coast of England.

The Mirror ^[1] reports that dramatic new weather maps from WXCharts show the movement of the low pressure across the UK. It’s thought that by 3am, most of the country will experience rain but further maps show it’ll largely be heavier at around 6am.

This is similar to the Met Office’s prediction, however it anticipates the heaviest rainfall at around 9am for many. By 3pm, it’s expected skies will clear in most regions.^[3]

Temperatures are not predicted to fall below 8 to 11C in the west of the UK and 5 to 7C further east, according to NetWeather. However snow could soon be on the way – in a report by Press and Journal ^[4], meteorologist Sean Batty, said: “After an unsettled week this week with further spells of wind and rain, the models are hinting at low pressure clearing east followed on by a high pressure system extending into the Arctic.

“This would allow a cold northerly air flow to develop across the UK which could bring a spell of snow to the north of the country followed by a more settled spell with clear skies which is the sort of scenario which can lead to very cold nights. Meteorology is not an exact science, and while there’s growing confidence in models for a cold plunge later next week, sometimes models can lead us merrily down a garden path for the whole idea to then be binned because of an unforeseen storm in the Atlantic which scuppers the whole thing.”

References

^{^} The Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)
^{^} Funfair heir who mowed down colleague over feud to spend extra time behind bars (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
^{^} Met Office’s (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
^{^} Press and Journal (www.pressandjournal.co.uk)