More than 70 areas across the UK could see showers on bank holiday Monday, but the Met Office says it should be the best weather of the long weekend.
After festival-goers braved rain and mud in plastic ponchos on Saturday and Sunday, Monday is expected to bring the best conditions of the three-day break. However, scattered showers are still forecast for many regions.
Rainfall and flood warnings
Bradworthy Common in Devon saw 34.2mm of rain over 12 hours on Sunday, more than a third of the average for Devon for August. A flood warning was in place for Spadesbourne Brook in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, on Sunday night, meaning flooding is expected, while 15 areas were covered by Environment Agency (EA) flood alerts, meaning floods are possible.
Met Office senior operational meteorologist Dan Stroud said: “It’s another day of sunny spells and showers, a generally bright but cloudy start with sunny spells in the east, we will have some showers from the get-go in the west and they will become a bit more heavy, the odd rumble of thunder is possible.”
Weather outlook for the week
Stroud added: “A drier and brighter end to the day. Monday promises to be the best of the three days, still showers around but a lot less than what we’ve seen.”
“Tuesday across England and Wales promises to be reasonably fine with some lengthy sunny spells. It’s a different story across Scotland. we’ve got a band of cloud and rain.”
“Wednesday, it changes, it goes downhill, turning cloudy and wet during the course of Wednesday, particularly across Wales and northern England northwards.”
Impact on events and summer weather
Music fans at Reading Festival were forced to don ponchos and umbrellas, and danced in the mud after getting caught in downpours over the weekend. Some were seen flinging mud at each other and playing in puddles, while others hid beneath their plastic ponchos. Elsewhere, the cricket at Lord’s in London was halted by the rain on Saturday.
The wet weather follows continued hot conditions across the UK, which coincided with extremely dry conditions. The Met Office has previously said the UK is on course for its hottest summer on record after five heatwaves, with temperatures of up to 38.1C recorded in London.
Areas expected to see rain
Weather maps show 72 counties of the UK will see rain on Monday, including:
Scotland: Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar), Highland (including Caithness, Sutherland, and Skye), Aberdeenshire, Moray, Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross, Angus, Fife.
Northern Ireland: County Antrim, County Down, County Londonderry / Derry, County Tyrone, County Fermanagh, County Armagh.
Wales: Anglesey, Gwynedd, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Powys, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham, Glamorgan, Gwent.
England: Cornwall (and Isles of Scilly), Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire (and Isle of Wight), West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Greater London, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire.
The picture looks a little brighter in the afternoon at 2pm, with showers expected to ease for many areas.
