UK weather: Flood warnings issued over last few shopping days before Christmas

The north of England and parts of Scotland will see most of very heavy rain

Lamiat Sabin
Sunday 21 December 2014 12:27 GMT
Comments
Overall spending in the final few days before Christmas is expected to be 7 per cent higher than last year, with many consumers getting into debt to fund it
Overall spending in the final few days before Christmas is expected to be 7 per cent higher than last year, with many consumers getting into debt to fund it

Flood warnings have been issued for the last few shopping days before Christmas Day with heavy rain and gales set to wash over large parts of the country.

Bands of persistent torrential rain will cause up to 80mm of rainfall in the next 24-hours over the northeast of England in Yorkshire, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and parts of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

The climate will remain mild across the country with varying temperatures between 9C to 12C. Drivers should however be aware of potential localised flooding on roads and strong high-speed winds of up to 65mph sweeping in from the south west, the Met Office warns.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said today: “Temperatures will be a little bit milder than they have been of late but, with the winds strengthening, it’s not going to feel any more pleasant out and about.”

“We’re looking at mean [wind] speeds of 30 to 35mph. In parts of Northern England we could see gusts of 55 to 65mph so do watch out for that, particularly if you’re taking to the roads today,” he added.

Heavy showers are also forecast to hit western parts of Scotland such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Fort William. The wet weather front is set to shift southwards today and tomorrow with most of the grey rain clouds expected to linger over Wales, the Pennines and Yorkshire by Tuesday.

Over the Christmas bank holidays, the weather is expected to turn clearer and colder with rain continuing to batter southern Scotland, northern England, Northern Ireland and Wales with these areas having the greatest risk of minor flooding until Tuesday.

Christmas Eve will be mainly clear of rain for almost all of the country, except western parts of Scotland that could also see wintry showers consisting mainly of sleet.

Temperatures are to drop from Tuesday through to Christmas Day to around 7C in the north and to mild and above-average highs of 10C and 11C in Greater London and the south of England.

As the weather is forecast to be more autumnal and mild, and no snow is expected to fall except on very high grounds in Scotland, a white Christmas is likely to be nothing short of a seasonal miracle.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in