Met Office issues 'danger to life' weather warning for UK | Weather | News

The Met Office has issued life-threatening weather warnings for parts of Britain.

The warnings come ahead of a two-day storm of thunderstorms for Britain, with heavy rain expected to cause flooding. The first of the warnings begins today (Tuesday, May 28), with the 'yellow' weather warning in place for much of northern and eastern England, from North Yorkshire all the way to East Anglia.

A separate warning applies to Northumbria, Cumbria and southern Scotland, while another covers much of Northern Ireland. A similar warning applies tomorrow (Wednesday, May 29), although this only affects parts of northern Scotland.

There are also 20 Environment Agency flood warnings currently in force for southern England – and 12 for Scotland. Northern England will be hardest hit by today's rainfall, while the northwest is expected to receive up to 2mm of rain per hour, according to data from Ventusky. Cumbria, the Isle of Man, Humberside and Lincolnshire, south-west Scotland and north Wales will also experience rain, with daytime temperatures in the UK hovering around 13-15 degrees Celsius.

The With office's yellow warning for thunderstorms says there is “a remote chance of fast-flowing or deep floodwaters causing a danger to life.”

The warning reads: “Although they will be absent in many places, thunderstorms will develop in some places this afternoon and move quite quickly eastwards before dissipating in the late afternoon or early evening. Where storms occur, 15 to 30mm could rain will fall for less than an hour or two in a few spots and frequent lightning, hail and gusty winds will pose additional hazards.”

The national forecaster says the areas covered by the warning can expect:

• Splashing water and flash flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures
• There is a small chance that some communities may be cut off by flooded roads
• In the event of flooding or lightning strikes, there is a risk of delays and sometimes cancellations of train and bus services
• There is a small chance of power outages and loss of other services to some homes and businesses
• There is a small chance that homes and businesses will be flooded quickly, with damage to some buildings from flooding, lightning, hail or high winds
• There is a small chance that fast-flowing or deep flood waters will pose a threat to life

The areas covered by the With office weather warnings are as follows:

Northern Ireland

• Province of Antrim
• County Armagh
• Province down
• County Londonderry
• County Tyrone

In his daily forecast, the With office said scattered heavy showers are possible this evening. It will remain mainly cloudy tonight, with the risk of further showers, although these were mainly concentrated in northern and western areas, reports the Daystar.

“It will slowly become drier from Friday to Saturday, with more and more sunshine. Temperatures around average.”

BBC Weather forecaster Tomasz Schafernaker described the weather forecast as changeable for the rest of the week, with no prolonged warm spells in sight.

He said: “Temperatures will be normal, nothing spectacular, but at least by the end of the week it looks like this low pressure will finally dissipate as we see high pressure build up, but the winds will still be from the north, So there are certainly no major warmings in the forecast.”

The Environment Agency currently has more than 20 amber warnings for flooding across southern England. These warn that flooding is possible and that people in the affected areas should prepare now.

The warnings are as follows:

• Groundwater flooding in Bishops Sutton

• Groundwater flooding in Deane and Ashe in North Hampshire

• Groundwater flooding in Flamstead

• Groundwater flooding in Kimpton and Lilley Bottom

• Groundwater flooding in Newmarket

• Groundwater flooding in the Alton area

• Groundwater flooding in the Candovers and Old Alresford

• Groundwater flooding in the Henley and Assendon area

• Groundwater flooding in the High Wycombe area

• Flood warning for groundwater flooding in the Lambourn Valley catchment

• Flood warning for groundwater flooding in the Leckhampstead area

• Flood warning for groundwater flooding in villages around Andover

• Flood warning for groundwater flooding in West Ilsley, East Ilsley, Compton, Chilton and West Hagbourne

• Flood warning for Lower River Colne and Frays River

• Flood warning for the River Coln and its tributaries

• Flood warning for the River Lambourn and its tributaries from Upper Lambourn to Newbury

• Flood warning for the River Pang from East Ilsley to Pangbourne and Sulham Brook

• Flood warning for the River Thames, Horsenden Stream and Chalgrove Brook

• Flood warning for River Wye and The Hughenden Stream