This visible satellite and rainfall radar image shows the three areas of low pressure affecting the UK today.
We can see three low pressure areas showing up as swirls of cloud to the north of Scotland near Shetland, north of Northern Ireland and off south-west England. The centre of the lows show up as cloud free areas.
During a yellow warning for rainfall there may be some minor traffic delays due to slower traffic and outdoor events may be disrupted or cancelled. There may be localised flooding of fields, car parks and recreational land.
When an amber warning is issued: Be prepared.
An amber warning indicates the need to be prepared for some disruption of daily routines and travel only if well prepared as the journey may take longer. Some flooding of homes, businesses and transport connections is possible. Utility services (gas, electricity and water) may also be affected and protecting property will be needed (for example moving possessions upstairs and using sandbags).
A red warning means action must be taken.
It is essential to follow advice from authorities under all circumstances and expect significant disruption. Only take journeys if absolutely essential and carry emergency food and clothing. Red warnings mean there could be widespread flooding of property and severe disruption to travel. There may be some loss of utilities (gas, electricity and water). There may be possible risk to life and the advice of the emergency services needs to be followed.
There have been one or two stories in the press today saying we’re in for another washout summer, which would rightly inspire collective misery across the country.
However, it’s a far too early to be writing off any chance of a decent summer season – after all, it doesn’t officially start (for us meteorologists) for more than two weeks (on 1 June).
It appears the news stories are borne out of the current position of the jet stream, a band of fast moving westerly winds high up in the atmosphere. But why is this important?
A quick Jet stream explainer
The jet stream tends to guide the generally wet and windy weather systems which come in off the Atlantic. So, if it’s over us or just to the south, we tend to get a lot of wet and windy weather – which is what we expect through winter.
If the jet is to the north of us, it guides that changeable weather to the north to give us more settled conditions – which is what we expect in the summer.
(You can read a bit more about the jet stream, how it impacted our weather last year, and any potential connections to climate change in a blog story we wrote last year).
What’s going on now?
Right now the jet stream is sitting to the south of the country and it is influencing the unsettled weather we are seeing at the moment.
Forecast chart showing position of the jet stream at midday on 13 May 2013
It’s fair to say that this is roughly the position it was in for extended periods during the exceptionally wet weather that we saw last year, particularly in June.
Crucially, however, the jet stream does move around quite a bit and it can change its track significantly in just a few days. So the current position of the jet stream does not mean that it’s stuck in that position.
Looking ahead
Much like our weather, it’s a huge challenge to predict the exact track of the jet stream more than five or six days ahead, so there’s still a great deal to play for in the outlook for our summer.
In short, it’s far too early to write-off summer 2013 based on the current position of the jet stream.
Thank you for sharing your January weather pictures with us on Twitter. Here’s a selection of our favourites. The January summary video is coming shortly.
As forecast, further snow fell across central, northern and eastern parts of the UK yesterday and overnight. The latest snow depth observations as of 0800 this morning for the UK are below. Redesdale Camp in Northumbria has the highest snow depth so far this year with 33 cm recorded.
Location
Area
Depth (cm)
Redesdale Camp
Northumberland
33
Eskdalemuir
Dumfriesshire
30
Albemarle
Northumberland
25
Spadeadam
Cumbria
25
Aboyne
Aberdeenshire
20
Bingley
West Yorkshire
20
Little Rissington
Gloucestershire
18
Leek, Thorncliffe
Staffordshire
16
Nottingham, Watnall
Nottinghamshire
12
Leconfield
Humberside
11
Strathallan Airfield
Perthshire
11
Church Fenton
North Yorkshire
11
Wittering
Cambridgeshire
10
Sennybridge
Powys
10
Andrewsfield
Essex
10
Dyce
Aberdeenshire
9
Cranwell
Lincolnshire
9
Linton On Ouse
North Yorkshire
8
Wattisham
Suffolk
8
Scampton
Lincolnshire
8
Marham
Norfolk
7
Shap
Cumbria
7
Leeming
North Yorkshire
7
Boulmer
Northumberland
6
Shawbury
Shropshire
5
Waddington
Lincolnshire
5
Rostherne
Cheshire
4
Bridlington MRSC
Humberside
4
Hawarden Airport
Clwyd
3
Glasgow, Bishopton
Renfrewshire
3
Coningsby
Lincolnshire
3
Bedford
Bedfordshire
3
Coleshill
Warwickshire
3
Liscombe
Somerset
2
Dunkeswell Aerodrome
Devon
2
Drumalbin
Lanarkshire
2
Hereford, Credenhill
Hereford & Worcester
2
Prestwick, Gannet
Ayrshire
2
Odiham
Hampshire
1
As we continue through the weekend all of us will see a change to milder and unsettled conditions, with further rain, heavy at times pushing east across the UK later on Saturday and into Sunday. A yellow warning of heavy rain has been issued for parts of the UK overnight tonight
The change to milder weather will result in a combination of a thaw of lying snow and periods of rain which inevitably increases the risk of flooding in some areas. The Met Office and Environment Agency are monitoring the situation very closely and advise everyone to stay up to date with the latest weather forecasts, severe weather warnings, and flood warnings.
By thinking ahead we can all be better prepared for severe weather. Throughout the winter, the Met Office works with agencies across the UK to help keep the country safe, well and on the move.
We announced last week that 2012 is already the wettest year for England in our records dating back to 1910, but we’re still waiting to hear whether it’s the wettest on record for the UK.
The latest figures we have for 2012 go from 1 January to 26 December, and show that during that time we’ve had 1291.2 mm of rain for the UK – meaning it is currently the 4th wettest year on record.
It’s 46.1 mm short of the record of 1337.3 mm, set in 2000, so if 46.2 mm of rain falls between 27-31 December we will have a new record.
It’s likely to be fairly close-run, but it’s impossible to say whether 2012 is a UK record for rainfall until all the data come in from our weather observation sites around the country.
This information should come in on the 1st and 2nd of January, then all the data will need to be processed and we expect to have a provisional answer on Thursday, 3rd January.
We’ll post the news here on our blog as soon as all the provisional statistics for 2012 come in.
Rain has continued to cause disruption across parts of the UK, with overnight rain adding to significant totals over the past few days.
The wettest place in the UK (and Scotland) since the heavy rainfall began on 19th December to 6am this morning has been Tyndrum in Perthshire, with 155.0 mm of rain.
Cardinham near Bodmin, Cornwall, is the wettest place in England with 128.8 mm of rain and the wettest place in Wales has been Mumbles Head, West Glamorgan, with 107.0 mm of rain.
Ballypatrick Forest in Antrim has been the wettest place in Northern Ireland, with 89.0 mm of rain.
Some areas have exceeded their full-month December average since the 19th – such as Plymouth, Devon, which has seen 128.8mm of rain compared to a December average of 118.8 mm.
Below is a table of the wettest places in the UK from 0000 HRS on 19th December to 0600 HRS today, 24th December. The final column shows the monthly average for December, clearly showing some places have exceeded their monthly totals:
SITE NAME
AREA
PRECIP AMOUNT(mm)
DEC AVG(mm)
TYNDRUM
PERTHSHIRE
155.0
300.9
CARDINHAM
CORNWALL
128.8
155.1
PLYMOUTH
DEVON
127.4
118.8
LISCOMBE
SOMERSET
125.2
171.2
OKEHAMPTON
DEVON
115.0
184.2
MUMBLES HEAD
WEST GLAMORGAN
107.0
110.3
TREDEGAR
GWENT
102.2
169.0
CARDIFF, BUTE PARK
SOUTH GLAMORGAN
97.0
125.3
SENNYBRIDGE NO 2
POWYS
96.2
179.5
ST ATHAN
SOUTH GLAMORGAN
93.2
122.4
DYCE
ABERDEENSHIRE
92.4
76.1
CARTERHOUSE
ROXBURGHSHIRE
92.4
132.0
CRAIBSTONE
ABERDEENSHIRE
92.0
79.8
BALLYPATRICK FOREST
ANTRIM
89.0
133.9
There is more unsettled weather to come this week, so for the latest information keep up to date with our forecasts and warnings.
We all know the UK sees a good deal of rainfall, but it’s not often you cannot see the country at all on a rainfall radar image like the one below.
Rainfall radar image from 6.50 am this morning
As you can see from the picture, taken from 6.50 am this morning, rain is falling widely across a large part of the UK.
Some places have seen persistent rain since the early hours of yesterday (Wednesday) morning, with some fairly high rainfall totals.
Rainfall totals in the table below are from 00:00 am on 19 December to 10:00 am on 20 December
Station
Area
Rainfall (mm)
Plymouth, Mountbatten
Devon
55
Cardinham, Bodmin
Cornwall
54.6
Camborne
Cornwall
49.2
Tredegar, Bryn Bach Park
Gwent
44.8
Thorney Island
West Sussex
43.6
Hurn
Dorset
42.8
Cardiff, Bute Park
South Glamorgan
42
Shoreham Airport
West Sussex
41
Usk
Monmouthshire
40
Ballypatrick Forest
Antrim
39.8
More rain is expected to fall over the next few days, which is likely to cause localised flooding and disruption to travel in the run up to the festive period.
Below are the latest rainfall totals from 6.00 pm Sunday night until 6.00 am this morning.
Location
Amount (mm)
Mona
27.8
Blencathra
27.4
Capel Curig
26
Valley
25.4
St Bees Head
20.8
Keswick
19
Ronaldsway
18.4
Blackpool
18.2
Rochdale
18
Aberdaron
17.4
The highest rainfall totals are now futher north, however as the table below shows, areas in the south west have seen the most rainfall overall. This is in addition to the rainfall totals from the 20th – 23rd November, where some areas saw in excess of 90 mm of rain.
Rainfall totals from midnight 24th November until 6.00 am this morning:
Location
Total (mm)
Plymouth, Mountbatten
72
Scilly: St Marys Airport
66.6
Cardinham, Bodmin
66.2
Dunkeswell Aerodrome
60.8
Camborne
59.6
Exeter Airport
55.6
Fylingdales
51.8
Culdrose
49
Capel Curig
49
North Wyke
48.2
This video shows the rainfall from this period with satellite and rainfall radar imagery.
There were also some strong gusts of wind last night:
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