Heavy rain brings over 100mm of rain to parts of Scotland – rainfall totals across the UK

There has been some very wet weather across much of the UK seeing well over an inch of rain in the last 24 hours. The wettest place in the UK, in the 48 hours to 6 am this morning is Tyndrum, Perthshire with 102.4 mm of rain, with 94.6 mm of this falling in the last 24 hours.

The wettest place in England was Cardinham, Cornwall with 62.8 mm, in Northern Ireland was Ballypatrick Forest, Antrim with 57.8 mm and in Wales it was Tredegar Park with 54.4 mm of rain.

Although there will continue to be some patchy outbreaks of rain across eastern parts of Scotland today, generally the rain will continue to ease leaving a drier day for many, before more heavy rain pushes into the southwest of England later this evening and across Scotland tomorrow morning.

48 hour UK Rainfall Totals 19 Dec 0600 am - 21 Dec 0600 am
Stations recording more than 40 mm

SITE NAME	AREA	PRECIP AMOUNT(mm)
TYNDRUM	PERTHSHIRE	102.4
CARTERHOUSE	ROXBURGHSHIRE	68.2
CARDINHAM, BODMIN	CORNWALL	62.8
SHAP	CUMBRIA	61.6
BALLYPATRICK FOREST	ANTRIM	57.8
PLYMOUTH, MOUNTBATTEN	DEVON	55.6
STRATHALLAN AIRFIELD	PERTHSHIRE	54.6
TREDEGAR, BRYN BACH PARK	GWENT	54.4
PATELEY BRIDGE, RAVENS NEST	NORTH YORKSHIRE	53.8
RAVENSWORTH	NORTH YORKSHIRE	53.4
BINGLEY	WEST YORKSHIRE	51.8
DUNDRENNAN	KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE	50.8
THORNEY ISLAND	WEST SUSSEX	49.4
SHOREHAM AIRPORT	WEST SUSSEX	49.2
USK	MONMOUTHSHIRE	48.4
NOTTINGHAM, WATNALL	NOTTINGHAMSHIRE	48.4
CARDIFF, BUTE PARK	SOUTH GLAMORGAN	48.2
HURN	DORSET	47.8
MURLOUGH	DOWN	46.6
THREAVE	KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE	45.8
WEST FREUGH	WIGTOWNSHIRE	45.6
LEUCHARS	FIFE	45
MUMBLES HEAD	WEST GLAMORGAN	45
CAPEL CURIG	GWYNEDD	44.8
RONALDSWAY	ISLE OF MAN	44
BRAMHAM	WEST YORKSHIRE	43.6
GLASGOW, BISHOPTON	RENFREWSHIRE	43
DISHFORTH AIRFIELD	NORTH YORKSHIRE	42.8
HAMPSTEAD	GREATER LONDON	41.4
SWANAGE	DORSET	41
CAMBORNE	CORNWALL	40.8
SENNYBRIDGE	POWYS	40.8
TRAWSGOED	DYFED	40.4

As the wet weather continues into the weekend we have issued a number of severe weather warnings. It is important people are weather aware by staying up to date with these during this period of unsettled weather. Amber warnings mean you need to be prepared for the weather and take steps to change your plans and protect you and your family or community from the impacts of the severe weather based on the forecast from the Met Office. We’d advise people in the areas affected to expect some disruption and take precautions if they are in an area at risk from heavy rain and flooding.

24 – 25 November rainfall update

Overnight rainfall recorded at Met Office observing stations from 6pm Saturday 24 November to 8am Sunday 25 November:

Station	Amount
Fylingdales, North Yorkshire	36.6 mm
Pershore, Hereford & Worcester	32.6 mm
Sheffield, South Yorkshire	32.6 mm
Gingley-on-the-Hill	31.8 mm
Leek, Staffordshire	31.6 mm
High Mowthorpe, North Yorkshire	31.4 mm
Exeter Airport, Devon	31.2 mm
Dunkeswell, Devon	30.8 mm
Scarborough, North Yorkshire	30.6 mm
Normanby Hall, Humberside	30 mm

Below are the highest rainfall totals recorded at Met Office observing stations between midnight on Saturday and 8am this morning:

Station	Amount
St Mary’s Airport, Isles of Scilly	58.2 mm
Plymouth, Devon	56.8 mm
Cardinham, Cornwall	49.2 mm
Exeter Airport, Devon	48 mm
Dunkeswell, Devon	47.8 mm
Camborne, Cornwall	44.6 mm
Culdrose, Cornwall	41 mm
Pershore, Hereford & Worcester	40.6 mm
Astwood Bank, Hereford & Worcester	39.6 mm
Liscombe, Somerset	38.4 mm

 

Rainfall totals 24 November 2012

It has been another wet day across much of the southern half of the UK. Here are some rainfall totals between midnight and 9pm from Met Office reporting stations:

Station	Amount
St Mary’s Airport, Isles of Scilly	57 mm
Plymouth, Devon	49.2 mm
Camborne, Cornwall	42.8 mm
Culdrose, Cornwall	40 mm
Cardinham, Cornwall	39.2 mm
Exeter Airport, Devon	31.6 mm
Dunkeswell, Devon	27.6 mm
North Wyke, Devon	26 mm
Bournemouth Airport, Dorset	24 mm
Liscombe, Somerset	21.4 mm

There is more rain to come over the rest of the weekend and into the start of next week.

Last night’s heavy rain

As forecast, heavy rain fell across parts of southern and southwestern Britain last night.

Here are some rainfall totals between midnight and 8am from Met Office reporting stations:

Station	Amount
Exeter Airport, Devon	39.2 mm
Dunkeswell, Devon	35.6 mm
Okehampton, Devon	33.8 mm
North Wyke, Devon	32.6 mm
Liscome, Somerset	23 mm
Pembrey Sands, Dyfed	22.8 mm
Mumbles Head, West Glamorgan	21.2 mm
Libanus, Powys	20.8 mm
Yeovilton, Somerset	20.4 mm
Cardiff, South Glamorgan	20.2 mm

More heavy rain, and strong to gale force winds are expected across the UK over the next few days.

What’s bringing the stormy weather to the UK?

The UK has seen some very wet and windy weather since the early hours of Sunday morning and that is set to continue in places for the next couple of days – but what has brought these disruptive conditions?

As is the norm, a low pressure which moved in from the Atlantic is to blame, bringing bands of heavy rain and strong winds (as you can see from the tightly packed isobars on the image below).

Forecast synoptic chart for 12:00 on Tuesday 25 September showing the low pressure over the UK.

Despite some reports to the contrary, this low is not what’s left of tropical storm Nadine, but is a completely separate entity – the remnants of Nadine are currently sitting close to the Azores far to the south of the UK.

Some warm tropical air dragged over by Nadine was sucked up into the low pressure, however, giving it some extra energy – essentially increasing its potential for strong winds and rain.

This isn’t unusual though, virtually every weather system we see will have had some input of sub-tropical air during its evolution.

There are two more notable features of this low pressure, however. Firstly, it has remained unusually active as it sits over the UK, leading to the strong winds and heavy rain.

This is due to the fact that, as the low pressure system moved north across the UK, it has also pulled in cooler polar air from the north.  This cold air has come up against the warm sub-tropical air, re-invigorating the depression and allowing it to continue to deepen over the UK.

Secondly this low pressure is lingering for longer than we would often see. The reason for this is down to the position of the jet stream, a narrow band of fast moving winds high up in the atmosphere which ‘steers’ weather systems.

Normally the jet stream runs fairly directly from east to west and pushes weather systems through quite quickly. Similar to earlier this year, the steering flow of the jet stream is currently in a meandering mood – looking much like a river, curving north and south as it heads west across the Atlantic (we call this a meridional flow, with the more linear west to east flow being called a zonal flow).

When it meanders, weather systems can get stuck in the ‘peaks and troughs’ it creates – so they get stalled in one spot rather than moving on. The below picture of the jet stream as at 12:00 today shows with the steering flow of the jet over France and the UK in the resulting trough.

The weather system will move on during the day on Wednesday, but that still means the UK will have had three days of unsettled weather.

Like our weather, the jet stream can change rapidly and it’s difficult to forecast precisely what it will do for more than a few days ahead – so there’s no reason to expect it to continue to behave in this way and there’s plenty still to play for in terms of our autumn weather.

The low pressure system that is affecting the UK is unusually deep for September, with the lowest air pressure recorded so far being 973mbs. To find a similarly intense low pressure system in September you need to go back to 1981, when pressures below 970mb were reported over a period of 24 hours. Like this week’s, this low pressure system brought unsettled weather as it crossed the British Isles – starting in the Isle of Man and tracking east and then north to cover Cumbria, Northumberland, eastern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland. There have been other times when pressures as low as 970mb were recorded in some parts of the British Isles in September, such as in the Isles of Scilly in 1995 and others across the far north or west of Scotland or Northern Ireland, however none were as widespread as the low that pushed across the UK in 1981.

Heaviest rain moves away after wet day in South West

It has been another very wet day across parts of the UK, resulting in widespread flooding across parts of the south west of England. Severe Flood Warnings were issued by the Environment Agency for several rivers through the day. This followed the Met Office issuing a Red Severe Weather Warning on Friday evening  for heavy rain in parts of south west England.

The heavy rain that had affected parts of the north Midland and northern England on Friday pushed further north bringing heavy rain to parts of the far north of England and southern and central Scotland.

The table below shows the amount of rain that fell between 7.00 pm on Friday and 4.00 pm on Saturday.

UK RAINFALL 06 July 7.00 pm – 07 July 4.00 pm
SITE NAME	AREA	RAINFALL        AMOUNT ( MM)
DUNKESWELL AERODROME	DEVON	56.2
ISLE OF PORTLAND	DORSET	52.6
NETTLECOMBE, BIRDS HILL	SOMERSET	46.8
EXETER AIRPORT	DEVON	44.8
EDINBURGH, ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN	MIDLOTHIAN	42.8
LISCOMBE	SOMERSET	40
CHARTERHALL	BERWICKSHIRE	38.8
CAMBORNE	CORNWALL	37.8
PLYMOUTH, MOUNTBATTEN	DEVON	36.6
HURN	DORSET	35.6
WIGHT: ST CATHERINES POINT	ISLE OF WIGHT	34.4
ST ATHAN	S. GLAMORGAN	33.8
CULDROSE	CORNWALL	31.8
SWANAGE	DORSET	30
CARDINHAM, BODMIN	CORNWALL	29.6
YEOVILTON	SOMERSET	28.4
STORMONT CASTLE	DOWN	26
NORTH WYKE	DEVON	24.6
SAUGHALL	AYRSHIRE	23.8
HELENS BAY	DOWN	23.8

 

The forecast for the rest of tonight is for outbreaks of rain to continue in both far northern and southeastern parts of the UK. Showers in many other areas should die away, with western parts in particular becoming largely dry. Some eastern and central parts may continue to see isolated heavy showers. The forecast for the rest of tonight is for outbreaks of rain to continue in both far northern and southeastern parts of the UK. Showers in many other areas should die away, with western parts in particular becoming largely dry. Some eastern and central parts may continue to see isolated heavy showers.

Heavy rainfall across parts of the UK

The past two days have seen some exceptional rainfall across the UK, with the heaviest and most persistent rain falling in the North West of England, parts of Northern Ireland and parts of southern Scotland.

Across this area there have been fairly widespread rainfall totals of about 25-50mm of rain in the past 24 hours – from 10am yesterday (22 June) to 10am this morning.

However, some spots saw even more rain in the same period. Here are the wettest places in the past 24 hours:

Blencathra, Cumbria – 93.8mm

Keswick, Cumbria – 88.6mm

Stonyhurst, Lancashire – 74.4mm

Levens Hall, Cumbria – 58.2mm

Morecambe, Lancashire – 57mm

Walney Island, Cumbria – 55.8mm

Preston, Lancashire – 54.8mm

Myerscough, Lancashire – 52.2mm

Bingley, West Yorkshire – 50.2mm

This is in line with the yellow and amber Severe Weather Warnings issued by the Met Office for yesterday’s rain, which forecast 25-50mm of rain across a wide area and up to 100mm possible in some spots.

Rainfall has eased this morning, however heavy rain is expected to sweep in across the UK later this evening and into tomorrow morning and the Met Office has issued further weather warnings.

You can stay up to date with the latest situation by looking at the warnings pages on our website and by staying up to date with our forecasts.

Later on Sunday the weather is expected to improve, giving way to a drier and brighter start to the week with sunny spells and improving temperatures.

Another wet and windy June weekend

It has been reported that this weekend’s weather is a once-in-50 year occurrence. In reality, last week’s weather was much more significant with winds recorded up to 84 mph and rainfall of 127 mm in parts of Wales. Although we are in for some wet and windy weather for the next couple of days, by Sunday and for the start of the new working week the weather looks set to be quieter with more sunshine, fewer showers, lighter winds and a warmer feel.

We have seen some more wet and windy weather this week, with heavy and persistent rain affecting many areas last night. However, rainfall totals and wind speeds have not been as severe as they were this time last week, when we saw disruption in west Wales and, later, south-east England.

Satellite image 15 June 2012 showing wet and windy weather over the UK.

The current warnings in place for Wales, the Midlands, northern England and Northern Ireland may seem to last for a long time as they are out for a 48 hour period. However, as Met Office Severe Weather Warnings are based on the impacts of the weather, it is important to ensure the public are aware of how long the worst of the weather will last. The longest warning issued by the Met Office was for the very cold snap in the winter of 2010/2011, where much of the UK was blanketed in yellow warnings for Ice untreated roads and pavements. These warnings were in place for as many as five days in a row.

Updated rainfall totals: over a month’s worth of rain falls in south east

An area of low pressure across south-eastern areas of Britain has given some persistent and heavy rain over the last couple of days, with parts of Surrey and Sussex seeing more than a month’s worth of rainfall in 36 hours.

Rain is still currently falling in parts of the South East and heavy showers are forecast for south west England and Wales. The Met Office currently has severe weather warnings in place for south west England, Wales and south east England for further heavy rain.

The table below shows rainfall totals from 7 pm Sunday evening until 7 am this morning. Wiggonholt in West Sussex has seen 72 mm of rain, almost one and a half times its monthly average for June of 52.9 mm.

Site name	Area	Precipitation amount (mm)
Wiggonholt	West Sussex	72
Thorney Island	West Sussex	68.6
Shoreham Airport	West Sussex	67.8
Swanage	Dorset	55.2
Charlwood	Surrey	55.2
Odiham	Hampshire	55
Otterbourne W Wks	Hampshire	53
Kenley Airfield	Greater London	49.2
Wisley	Surrey	47
Middle Wallop	Hampshire	45.8
London, St James’s Park	Greater London	44.6
Rothamsted	Hertfordshire	44.4
South Farnborough	Hampshire	44
Hampstead	Greater London	43.2
Alice Holt Lodge	Hampshire	40.8
Boscombe Down	Wiltshire	40.4
High Wycombe, Hqair	Buckinghamshire	37.6
Goudhurst	Kent	37.4
Larkhil	Wiltshire	36.8
Woburn	Bedfordshire	36.2
Kew Gardens	Greater London	36.2
Benson	Oxfordshire	35.8

The jet stream is partly to blame for our unsettled conditions at the moment. It is currently flowing to the south of the UK, allowing a series of low pressure systems to spread in from the Atlantic.

There are many factors which can impact the notoriously changeable weather in the UK, so no single one on its own can be said to be fully responsible. However, it is possible to isolate contributing factors and, in this case, one of those is the northern hemisphere jet stream. This is a narrow band of fast flowing westerly winds (ie blowing from west to east) in the high atmosphere. This band moves around and also changes its track, from a fairly straight line to something more closely resembling a meandering river. Its position can, and does impact weather in the UK and other parts of the northern hemisphere.

Is this stormy weather unusual for June?

We’ve seen some particularly stormy weather across parts of the UK in the last 24 hours as heavy rain and strong winds have brought disruption particularly across the south of the UK.

The strongest winds were recorded in the early hours of Friday morning where the Needles on the Isle of Wight recorded gusts of 82 mph. Otherwise the strongest winds were across South West England with gusts around 60 to 70 mph.

UK MAX GUST SPEED 7TH TO 8TH JUNE 2012
DATE/TIME	SITE NAME	MAX GUST SPEED MILES PER HOUR
08/06/2012 05:00	WIGHT: NEEDLES OLDBATTERY	82
07/06/2012 21:00	MUMBLES HEAD	67
07/06/2012 16:00	PLYMOUTH, MOUNTBATTEN	62
07/06/2012 15:00	CULDROSE	60
07/06/2012 16:00	SCILLY: ST MARYS AIRPORT	58
08/06/2012 06:00	ISLE OFPORTLAND	58
08/06/2012 07:00	AVONMOUTH	58

UK RAINFALL 7TH TO 8TH JUNE 2012
SITE NAME	PRECIP        AMOUNT ( MM)
TREDEGAR, BRYN BACH PARK	53.4
USK	49.4
DUNKESWELL AERODROME	45.6
OKEHAMPTON	42.4
LISCOMBE	42.0
CARDIFF,BUTEPARK	38.6
SENNYBRIDGE	38.4
MUMBLES HEAD	37.6
GLENANNE NO 2	35.4
KILLOWEN	34.6

Whilst this type of weather may seem unseasonable for early summer you only have to take a look through the Met Office observations records to see that stormy weather in the summer is not all that unusual.

The most comparable storm we have seen recently was only in 2010. The 15^th July saw a complex area of low pressure over the UK bring wet and windy weather across South Wales and South West England. The highest gusts recorded were 84 mph at Aberdaron in North Wales. Elsewhere, winds gusted to between 60 and 70 mph widely across the south west of the UK.

Before this, the 23rd June 2004 saw another area of low pressure bring stormy weather across the UK. The strength of the winds during this storm were very similar once again with the strongest winds being seen at the Needles on the Isle of Wight where gusts of 84 mph, whilst gusts of 60 to 70 mph were recorded across South West England and South Wales.

You can get the latest weather forecast and weather warnings on the Met Office website

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