Pack your brollies (Picture: Alex Lentati/LNP)
The UK faces 48 hours of ‘miserable’ weather with a yellow warning issued as downpours hit.
Homes could be left flooded and travel delays may be sparked in spots including Birmingham and Manchester, the Met Office has warned.
The ‘atrocious’ conditions, which came for Cornwall this afternoon, will spread up the country until it reaches Scotland’s east coast on Friday – with the highlands even seeing snow.
Three flood warnings and 43 flood alerts have been issued by the Environment Agency, mostly across the south coast.
The first Met Office warning kicked in at 5pm today, covering a southeast area stretching from Southampton and the Isle of Wight in Hampshire to the coast in Kent, until 6am on Thursday.
Motorists have been warned by travel service Romanse of ‘heavy delays’ around the A27 and A3M near Havant, Hampshire, due to flooding.
Another yellow rain warning comes into force across a large area of the UK for the whole of Thursday, from 12am until 11.59pm.
This covers an area stretching from Birmingham, Lincoln and Hull to north Wales, Liverpool and Manchester, as well as the east coast up to the Scottish border.
A third warning will come into force at 3pm on Thursday until 6pm on Friday for the east coast of Scotland, stretching from the English border up past Aberdeen with similar risks of flooding, and transport disruptions.
Three flood warnings and 43 flood alerts have been issued (Picture: Met Office)
Met Office spokesperson Craig Snell has cautioned: ‘The warning areas are where we are most concerned about the risk of flooding but it doesn’t mean that the areas outside them are not going to see some pretty atrocious conditions.’
He added that a warning is in place for the southeast because ‘it has been quite wet there since the beginning of November with many places already seeing more than their month’s share of rain’.
Londoners out and about tonight are expected to have an ‘unpleasant commute home’, as the whole of the south faces ‘a pretty miserable evening’.
Fortunately for the capital and surrounding areas, the wet conditions will pass by Thursday morning.
But the midlands and the north of England will have a ‘pretty miserable day’ on Thursday after the rain sweeps in overnight, Mr Snell said.
He added: ‘The rain will be accompanied by a brisk wind so it’s not going to feel feel good.’
The worst of the downpours are destined for Scotland though, with ‘two days of persistent rain’ expected.
RAC breakdown spokesman Rod Dennis has warned motorists to ‘exercise great care’ during the wet weather.
‘The chances of being involved in a collision rise dramatically in wet weather, and even more so if there’s snow, so it’s vital drivers slow down, leave plenty of space behind the vehicle in front and use their lights to make sure they’re easily seen by other road users’, he said.
‘The risk of aquaplaning where a vehicle’s wheels lose contact with the road as they skim across standing water will be high, particularly for those who don’t slow down to appropriate speeds for the conditions.’
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A yellow warning has been issued as downpours hit today.
