Rain warnings for southern Britain, with final burst of summer for the North

Rain is set to lash much of southern Britain, with severe weather warnings in place until Friday.

Downpours are set to sweep in on Wednesday night and continue through Thursday and until late on Friday – with some flooding a possibility, the Met Office said.

However the north of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland are expected to see a final burst of summer, with fine, dry sunny weather predicted until the weekend.

Two Yellow weather warnings are in place, stretching from parts of the east of England across mid-Wales and from as far north as the West Midlands – and covers the whole of London and south-west and south-east England.

Forecasters say some parts will miss the worst weather, but scattered heavy showers on Wednesday night are expected to merge into longer spells of heavy or thundery rain overnight and into Thursday.

Where heavy downpours occur, 20-40 mm are possible within an hour or two. Over a longer period, a few places could see more than 50-60 mm, possibly even as much as 80 to 100 mm if repeated batches of heavy rain affect the same locations though more more likely during the second half of Thursday.

Commuters and motorists are warned to expect spray and sudden flooding, leading to difficult driving conditions and some road closures.

And there will be no let-up on Friday, though remaining warm, more outbreaks of heavy rain are expected widely across southern England and southern Wales on Friday.

The second yellow weather warning, running until midnight on Friday, could see the heaviest downpours bring as much as 75-100mm of rain in some areas.

Following on from Thursday’s rain, this will increase the possibility of travel disruption from flooding, a slight chance of power cuts and a small chance of some communities being cut off by flooded roads and deep floodwater causing a danger to life.

The Met Office says there is also the potential for further spells of heavy rain across parts of the South over the weekend.

Elsewhere, further north in England and Scotland there will be fine and sunny weather conditions, with temperatures predicted to reach up to the low 20s in central and western Scotland.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said the UK was currently experiencing a closed low-pressure system, what is known as a “cut-off low” also known as a “weatherman’s-woe”, as the weather becomes more difficult to predict in detail.

He added: “But the general signal, across parts of the Midlands, south Wales, southern England, there is going to be a series of pulses of rain coming in between Thursday and Sunday.

“Some heavy downpours are possible. We’ve got that warning out for Wednesday night into Thursday, but even after that we’re going to see further pulses of heavy rain.

“Generally across the South it does look pretty wet as we go through this weekend into the early part of next week.”