Met office issues weather warning for rain this weekend with first frosts of the season to follow
The Met Office has issued a weather warning for more heavy rain this weekend, followed by a cold snap bringing the first frosts of the season.
Temperatures are set to drop next week as the Met Office predicts the first frosts of the season could be on the way. However, there will be more rain before that, with a weather warning issued for parts of the UK this weekend.
After a relatively mild day on Thursday (September 18), those in the south of the country can expect a muggy night while those in the north will experience fresher conditions. The national weather service says there will be some patchy rain for northern England and western Wales throughout the day, otherwise, rather cloudy, mild and humid elsewhere with low cloud and hill fog in the west.
Friday (September 19) looks set to be another grey day for many with cloud extending from the southwest to northeast England, bringing further outbreaks of rain. It will be drier and warmer elsewhere, feeling especially warm in the sunnier southeast.
Looking ahead to the weekend, the weather will remain unsettled with showers which could turn heavy and thundery at times during Saturday. From Sunday, it will start to turn colder with further heavy rain in places, turning showery and spreading southwards on Monday.
Next week, although perhaps drier than of late, it is going to be feeling chillier. A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “It will be fairly settled to start the period but there will be spells or rain or showers in south and eastern areas, near to an area of low pressure.
“Elsewhere, some fog and frost patches are possible at times. It will also turn colder, as a northerly flow becomes established for a time. Later in the week, more widely drier and settled conditions could develop as high pressure becomes more influential, although probably still with some coastal showers.
“There may however be some thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain in the far northwest at times. Temperatures should gradually return closer to average in this period. Later there may be a return to a more changeable pattern but this is uncertain.”
Despite a rather wet start to September, groundwater and reservoir levels across England continue to decline, officials said on Monday (September 15), as they warned that drought conditions will likely continue through autumn.
The national drought group, which includes the Met Office, regulators, government, water companies and other organisations, convened as five regions of England remain in official drought, with more likely to declare drought status within weeks.
August’s rainfall was just 42% of its long-term average and the summer has been declared the hottest since records began in 1884, following one of the driest springs on record. More widely, rainfall from January to August this year was 69% of the long-term average for those eight months, according to the Environment Agency.
The water shortfall has been defined as a “nationally significant incident” based on the number of areas affected and widespread damage that is being inflicted on the environment and agriculture.
Alan Lovell, chairman of the Environment Agency, said: “While we have seen some recent rain, it is nowhere near enough to reverse the impact of the last seven months, which have been the driest since 1976. We are calling on everyone to continue to take simple steps to reduce their water use and are grateful to people for following the restrictions imposed by water companies.”