The Met Office has forecast heavy rain to drench most of the UK on Wednesday as weather maps turn blue. The maps show a thick band of rain moving steadily east/northeast across the UK tomorrow, with the majority of areas experiencing some downpours at some point in the day.
Morning downpours across the west
The weather maps show the main band of rain stretching across from southwest England right through Wales, northern England and Scotland in the early hours. The heavy rain is expected to hit western Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern Wales and south west England at 9am.
By 12pm, this band will move slightly east, with lots of the UK being covered. The south west is forecast to experience heavy downpours at this time.
Afternoon showers move east
In the afternoon, the weather maps then show counties further east of England also covered by rain. At 3pm, most of the map is blue, with parts of the north east of England also experiencing showers.
Central/northern Scotland and northern England expect to have the heaviest downpours at this time, whereas areas in the south will see significantly less rain than in the morning.
Evening clearance and forecast details
As evening starts the band of rain will shift further east again, with areas that have been battered by constant showers expected to get some dry spells. The main band will have passed the majority of the south by 6pm, but showers will be expected in London and surrounding areas.
As night continues, most of the rain will have cleared, with the blue map changing colour at 9pm. At this time there is expected to be dispersed showers in the north east of England.
The Met Office forecasts states there will be "heavy rain" on Wednesday. The forecaster says: "Heavy rain moves across the UK on Wednesday, bringing a fresher feel. Staying breezy with sunny spells and showers thereafter."
The full list of counties where rain is forecast includes: in England, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cumbria, Northumberland, County Durham, Yorkshire, parts of the Midlands, Essex, Kent, East Sussex, Surrey and London; in Wales, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Powys, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, parts of the Vale of Glamorgan, parts of Monmouthshire and parts of southern Wales; in Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway, South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, Argyll and Bute, Glasgow, Highland, Perth and Kinross, Angus, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Fife, Stirling, Clackmannanshire, the Edinburgh/Lothians area and the Scottish Borders; and in Northern Ireland, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Londonderry and Fermanagh.
