The Met Office has named nearly 40 areas across the UK that will be affected by heavy downpours on Thursday evening, with the heaviest rainfall initially expected in parts of Scotland.
Weather maps generated by the Met Office on Wednesday, October 7, show that several parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales will experience wet conditions on Thursday evening. Strong winds are also expected to impact areas in the north.
Unsettled weather spreads across the country
The national weather agency suggests the unsettled weather will begin to affect the country from Thursday evening. The rainy conditions are then expected to spread across England by late night before the weather begins to settle on Friday.
In its forecast for Thursday, the Met Office said: “A chilly, though mostly sunny morning.
"Cloud increasing in the west, with rain moving in across western areas by the afternoon, with increasingly gusty winds in the north.”
Forecast details and affected areas
A separate weather forecast from Netweather.com reads: "A few showers may brush the Norfolk coast early on Thursday. Through the morning and early afternoon East Anglia, the south-east and north-east England should see the most sunshine. Thursday will be chilly everywhere, with 12 to 16C in England and Wales and 10 to 13C in Scotland, two to three degrees below average.
"Rain from an Atlantic front is expected to reach Northern Ireland, western Scotland, Wales and Cornwall by early evening on Thursday.
"Some heavy bursts are likely over south-west Wales and Cornwall later that evening. The south-east has a slightly better than evens chance of the rain arriving before midnight.
"After midnight the band should cross Yorkshire, the Midlands, the south-west and East Anglia, heaviest for a time over the western Highlands and the Lake District and then over mid and north Wales around dawn on Friday."
Full list of areas affected on Thursday
The areas affected by rain on Thursday include: Northumberland, Cumbria, Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Worcestershire, Dumfries and Galloway, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow city, North Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Moray, Perth and Kinross, Dundee city, Argyll & Bute, Stirling, County Antrim, County Armagh, County Down, County Fermanagh, County Londonderry and County Tyrone.
The heavy rain is expected to impact most of the UK, according to the weather maps, before conditions begin to settle on Friday.
