Rain is forecast in 88 UK counties on Wednesday, September 2, the first day of school for millions of children, with the heaviest downpours expected during the morning school run.
The Met Office predicts rain from early morning, with the heaviest falls between 8am and 10am. The forecast for Wednesday states: “Showers or longer spells of rain will move eastwards across many central areas during the day. It will remain dry but cloudy in the far north and far southeast.”
Rain bands and affected regions
Weather maps show a large band of rain moving over the UK from the west, first hitting the western coast of Wales. It then moves north-east, drenching north Wales, the Midlands, East Anglia, and the North of England, where up to 16mm of rain will fall in an hour at 9am.
Scattered showers follow, soaking Devon and Cornwall, before a second band of rain emerges in the afternoon to drench Northern Ireland and most of Scotland.
Temperatures and warnings
Temperatures will be warm, with highs of 23C in London, 21C in Cardiff and Manchester, 19C in Belfast, and 16C in Glasgow.
No weather warnings are in place for Wednesday, despite heavy rain. However, the Environment Agency has issued flood alerts for a handful of waterways on Tuesday, September 1, which will be reviewed before the midweek downpours.
List of 88 counties expected to see rain
The following is the full list of 88 UK counties expected to see rain on Wednesday, September 2:
Northern Ireland
- County Antrim
- County Armagh
- County Down
- County Fermanagh
- County Londonderry
- County Tyrone
Scotland
- Aberdeenshire
- Angus
- Argyll and Bute
- Clackmannanshire
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Dundee
- East Ayrshire
- East Dunbartonshire
- East Lothian
- East Renfrewshire
- Falkirk
- Fife
- Glasgow
- Highland
- Inverclyde
- Midlothian
- Moray
- North Ayrshire
- North Lanarkshire
- Orkney
- Perth and Kinross
- Renfrewshire
- Scottish Borders
- Shetland
- South Ayrshire
- South Lanarkshire
- Stirling
- West Dunbartonshire
- West Lothian
- Western Isles
Wales
- Blaenau Gwent
- Bridgend
- Caerphilly
- Cardiff
- Carmarthenshire
- Ceredigion
- Conwy
- Denbighshire
- Flintshire
- Gwynedd
- Isle of Anglesey
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Monmouthshire
- Neath Port Talbot
- Newport
- Pembrokeshire
- Powys
- Rhondda Cynon Taf
- Swansea
- Torfaen
- Vale of Glamorgan
- Wrexham
England
- Bristol
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- County Durham
- Cumbria
- Derbyshire
- Devon
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- Gloucestershire
- Greater Manchester
- Herefordshire
- Lancashire
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Merseyside
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Nottinghamshire
- Rutland
- Shropshire
- Somerset
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire
- Tyne and Wear
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire
- Worcestershire
