Overview
- The warning runs from 6am Friday to 6am Saturday and spans large areas including the East Midlands, East of England, London and the South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and parts of the North West.
- Rainfall of 30–50mm is expected widely with 60–80mm in places and potentially more than 100mm on east‑facing hills in southeast Wales, with slow‑moving bands prompting the risk of a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours, according to the Met Office.
- Strong easterly winds will accompany the rain, bringing a slight chance of power cuts, loss of services, difficult driving conditions, road closures, and delays or cancellations to bus and rail services.
- The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales anticipate flood alerts and warnings due to swollen rivers and saturated catchments and urge people to avoid driving through floodwater and to prepare flood plans and emergency kits.
- Forecasters note uncertainty over the exact placement of heaviest rain with updates or escalation to warnings possible, while colder air in the north later this week could bring below‑freezing nights and a risk of hill snow in Scotland.