UK suffers 36 continuous days of rain as miserable weather continues with more Met Office warnings
The UK has seen rain every day so far this year and more rain is expected with the Met Office issuing new weather warnings.
Rain has so far been reported somewhere on the Met Office network every day of the year, for 36 consecutive days, after the forecaster recorded above-average rainfall for January.
Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said: “Rain has been reported somewhere in the network on every day of the year so far. The UK has had a wet start to the year, particularly in Northern Ireland and southern England, although on some days amounts have been negligible and some areas have seen dry days.”
“This is largely due to a series of fronts or low pressure systems coming in from the west, bringing heavy rain at times and some damaging winds. There is little sign of a decline in the current forecast as the weather becomes more unstable over the coming days and weekend.”
The wet weather looks set to continue as two yellow weather warnings for rain have been issued across south-west England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The forecaster said a third yellow weather warning has been issued for the north of England between 3pm on Thursday and 3am on Friday as “rain will increasingly turn to snow on the hills this afternoon and evening”, which could cause travel disruption.
The yellow rain warning extends from Chichester to Penzance and covers much of south-east England, as well as parts of south-west England and south Wales, from 5am on Thursday until 9pm on Friday.
The Met Office said “periods of rain and downpours are likely to cause surface water flooding in places” in affected areas. Rain coming from the south is expected to become “heavy and persistent” in places on Thursday morning. Between 10 and 20 mm of rain is expected to fall by the end of the day, with some areas seeing over 30 mm of rain.
The forecaster warned that several homes and businesses could be flooded, with potential disruption to power supplies and other services.
A second yellow weather warning is in effect for parts of Northern Ireland from midday to midnight on Friday. The forecaster warned that “rain will be heavy at times and may cause flooding and travel disruption in some locations”.
The Met Office added: “Most locations are likely to see 10 to 20mm of rain and low-level pulses, with some south-east facing hills likely to see 40 to 50mm during this period.”
Wet weather is expected to be particularly persistent on the east and south-east facing slopes of the Morne Mountains and Antrim Hills, which could receive 60 to 80 mm; Strong easterly to southeasterly winds may also lead to some difficult travel conditions and large waves along the Irish Sea coast.
This came as Northern Ireland recorded its wettest January in 149 years – the second wettest January in history. Storm Chandra brought record-breaking rainfall to many parts of the UK, particularly on 26 January; Katesbridge in County Down saw a staggering 100.8mm of rain, far surpassing the previous course record of 38.2mm in 2005.
Dunkeswell Aerodrome in Devon reached 52.8mm, while Hurn in Dorset, Cardinham in Cornwall and Plymouth Mountbatten in Devon surpassed their previous daily records.
