UK weather: Britain braces for 65mph gusts and more flooding this week

Britain braces for 65mph gusts and more flooding this week after fifth WETTEST autumn on record… but mercury is set to rise to welcome 13C by Friday

  • Flooding risk remains for England with the Environment Agency imposing 22 alerts and three warnings
  • Met Office has warned Scotland could see 65mph wind gusts and up to 4in (100mm) of rain on Thursday
  • England had fifth wettest autumn on record, with some areas seeing rain unprecedented in modern times
  • Temperatures fell as low as -2.2C (28F) last night in Dorset but could rise as high as 13C (55F) by Friday

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Parts of Britain face a continuing risk of frost and sub-zero temperatures over the next few days before the mercury rises to 13C (55F) by Friday.

A flooding risk remains for England with the Environment Agency imposing 22 alerts and three warnings, while the Met Office has warned Scotland could see 65mph wind gusts and up to 4in (100mm) of rain on Thursday.

It comes after the Met Office revealed England had its fifth wettest autumn on record in 2019, with some areas experiencing a volume of rain unprecedented in modern times after an average of nearly 14in (350mm) fell. 

A surfer rides a wave off the coast at Tynemouth on the North East coast amid choppy conditions this morning

Temperatures fell as low as -2.2C (28F) last night in Dorset – although this was far above the previous two overnight lows of -7.3C (18.9F) in Cumbria on Sunday night, and -10.3C (13.5F) in the Highlands on Saturday night.  

The Met Office said Wednesday to Friday are set to be fine and dry in the south, with further fog and frost likely at night but northern England is set to be cloudier, with rain arriving on Thursday in the north west.

More dry and bright weather is likely on Saturday but into next week, ‘more changeable’ conditions are forecast with ‘spells of more organised cloud, rain and stronger winds followed by brighter, showery and colder interludes’.

Met Office meteorologist Oli Claydon told MailOnline today: ‘The general theme is that we’re moving away from settled conditions over the last few days into a more unsettled period into the weekend. 

The sunrise through Durdle Door in Dorset today as the sun beams through the famous rock arch on the Jurassic coastline

The sunrise through Durdle Door in Dorset today as the sun beams through the famous rock arch on the Jurassic coastline

Daybreak on a cold morning on Preston Sands in Dorset today after temperatures fell below -2C in the county overnight

Daybreak on a cold morning on Preston Sands in Dorset today after temperatures fell below -2C in the county overnight

‘We’ve got a weather warning for North East Scotland, there could be more prolonged rain there, and quite blustery up there with 55 to 65mph gusts by the end of the week.’

A flooding risk remains for England with the Environment Agency imposing 22 alerts (orange) and three warnings (red)

A flooding risk remains for England with the Environment Agency imposing 22 alerts (orange) and three warnings (red)

He added that the high pressure which had brought settled conditions in recent days was starting to fall away, and that there was a chance of fog in the South East overnight tonight – especially in southern Essex. 

Looking ahead to the weekend, Mr Claydon said: ‘Saturday looks the better of the two days. Mostly dry and bright conditions are around before some windier conditions move back on Sunday with rain for the northern half of the UK.’

He added that temperatures could fall to -3C (27F) in rural areas tonight, but get up to 13C (55F) on Friday across England as far north as Newcastle, while highs on Saturday are expected to be slightly lower with 12C (54F) forecast in Plymouth and 10C (50F) in London. 

Households in part of Scotland could be without gas for five days as engineers work to restore supplies to thousands of homes following a failure in the network.

Gas network company SGN said it was working to restore supplies to around 8,000 properties after the problem started on Sunday in the Falkirk area, but said it could be up to a week before supplies are restored to everyone. 

England has fifth wettest autumn on record as  some areas endure rain unprecedented in modern times

England had its fifth wettest autumn on record in 2019, with some areas experiencing a volume of rain unprecedented in modern times.

An average total of 348.4mm rain fell on England over the months of September, October and November, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.

Only four autumns have seen a higher average, including the autumn of 2000, which remains the wettest on record (437.5mm).

 

New records were set this year in South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

Sheffield was a particularly wet location, seeing an average total rainfall of 474.8mm – enough to smash its previous autumn record of 425.2mm, set in 2000.

The location with the highest total throughout the season was Holne on the southern edge of Dartmoor in Devon, with 899.0mm.

Not everywhere in the UK had a wet autumn, however.

 

There was a marked difference in rainfall between England and Scotland.

While it was the fifth wettest autumn for England, Scotland had only 81% of its seasonal average – and north Scotland managed only 69%.

It was the 10th wettest autumn on record for Wales, and the 35th wettest for Northern Ireland.

For the UK as a whole, it was the 23rd wettest autumn on record.

The Met Office’s rainfall data goes back as far as 1910.

 

Separate figures for last month show that South Yorkshire had its wettest November on record, with 257% of its average rainfall (185.0mm).

Nottinghamshire (136.0mm) had its third wettest November and Lincolnshire (116.0mm) its fourth.

By contrast, Ross and Cromarty was the driest location, with just 32% average rainfall for the month (64.1mm).

England had 132% of its average rainfall for November, while the UK as a whole had 97%.

The Met Office uses the period 1981-2010 as a baseline for calculating averages.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk