The With office has issued a thunderstorm warning for thousands of Brits in the path of a devastating 48 hours storm racing along the west coast.
A devastating system began to cross the country this afternoon, prompting warnings of high winds and heavy rain, which have introduced the possibility of “flash flooding”.
Those conditions initially tore into the southwest and west coasts of England And Wales and have since moved south-east to London and the surrounding area, with warnings now covering more than 30 areas.
They will continue for the next three days, forecasters expect, before a broad blanket of rain settles across the Midlands and northern England, Wales and Wales. Scotland.
As that blanket develops, weather maps suggest that near-gale force winds could follow in some coastal areas of Britain.
The With office has three active thunderstorm warnings for the country, each activated this afternoon.
In Northern Ireland and Wales the warnings will last until 9pm tonight, while in England they will last until 11.59pm. During this time, Britons have been warned of flooding, lightning strikes and possible power outages.
Where thunderstorms develop, rainfall can produce “slow and intense” showers, with localized accumulations reaching between 20 mm and 30 mm (0.7 to 1.1 in) in just one hour.
In some areas these totals could reach 40 mm to 50 mm (1.5 to 2 in), increasing the chance of flash flooding and other associated problems, but while the country is lashed by rainfall, winds will remain relatively calm .
Over the next two days, maps from WXCharts show wind speeds will remain around 3 to 10 mph per hour, strength typical for the season.
The outlook will change rapidly over the coming days, starting from Wednesday 22 May when they organize on the west coast and intensify to 50km/h in the east of Scotland.
Wind speeds could increase to 60km/h on Wednesday evening, speeds officially considered near gale force, affecting a large area around the Isle of Arran and Stranraer and several other towns in Dumfries and Galloway.
The With office has issued two wider rain warnings for Wales, Scotland and parts of northern England and the Midlands between May 22 and 23.
Meanwhile, thunderstorm warnings are affecting several dozen areas in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including:
Northern Ireland
- Province of Antrim
- County Armagh
- Province down
- County Fermanagh
- County Londonderry
- County Tyrone
Wales
- Blaenau Gwent
- Bridgend
- Caerphilly
- Cardiff
- Carmarthenshire
- Ceredigion
- Conwy
- Denbighshire
- Gwynedd
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Monmouthshire
- Neath Port Talbot
- Newport
- Pembrokeshire
- Powys
- Rhondda Cynon Taf
- Swansea
- Torfaen
- Vale of Glamorgan
- Wrexham
South West England
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Bristol
- Cornwall
- Devon
- Dorset
- Gloucestershire
- North Somerset
- Plymouth
- Somerset
- South Gloucestershire
- Torbay
- Wiltshire
West Midlands
East of England
- Bedford
- Cambridgeshire
- Central Bedfordshire
- Essex
- Hertfordshire
- Luton
- Norfolk
- Southend-on-Sea
- Suffolk
- Thurrock
London and South East England
- Bracknell Forest
- Brighton and Hove
- Buckinghamshire
- East Sussex
- Greater London
- Hampshire
- Knows
- Medway
- Milton Keynes
- Oxfordshire
- Portsmouth
- Reading
- Slough
- Southampton
- Surrey
- West Berkshire
- West Sussex
- Windsor and Maidenhead
- Wokingham