UK weather: where and when will it rain this week? Country braces for Wednesday washout

The UK is set for a Wednesday washout today (February 21) with heavy rain and possible flooding forecast for parts of the country.

Most of the country will be hit by rain, with some areas particularly under pressure, with Met Office weather warnings in place. Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said: “We could see quite widely across western parts of the UK 10mm to 20mm of rain. But over those higher ground spots of parts of Wales, south-west England in particular, we could see 40 to 50 and then locally 60 or 70mm of rain.”

This could be an issue for some areas, which have already had heavy rain and have saturated ground. Flood warnings and alerts are in place for England and Wales. There are currently 23 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 178 flood alters, meaning flooding is possible.

Mr Dewhurst said: “This falling on the back of what has been a wet winter, wet month… we could see some flooding develop as we move through tomorrow morning.”

While rain is due to hit the country, it will remain mild. Temperatures across the UK will range from between 12C to 14C.

Where and when will it rain today?

Most of the country will experience rain at some point today, with showers forecast by the Met Office across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and most to Scotland. Some northerly areas of Scotland, including Aberdeen, is unlikely to have any rainfall.

In England, rain will persist until early evening, around 5pm, with the downpour lasting until around 7pm. Likewise in Wales, the heaviest rain will come in the morning before easing up from the afternoon onwards.

A yellow weather warning is in place for south-western England and areas of South Wales. Covering areas such as Bath, Plymouth, Cardiff, Swansea and Exeter, the warning will remain in place until 12pm with warning of possible travel disruption.

Northern Ireland will experience some rain in the morning periods, before clearer skies from noon onwards forecast. Rain will fall on areas in Scotland from early morning until it starts to ease up from around 1pm onwards.