Met Office weather warning with 'atrocious' conditions set to cause travel CHAOS across UK

Weather warnings have been issued for large parts of the UK over the next two days with “miserable” conditions and flood risks forecasted.

The Met Office said the band of rain has already reached Cornwall as of Wednesday afternoon and will travel across the country until it passes over Scotland’s east coast on Friday.

Conditions could be “miserable” and “atrocious” for much of the UK while Scottish highlands could see some snow, the forecaster said, as it issued a yellow weather warning over the downpours.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency had issued three flood warnings and 43 flood alerts mostly across the south coast as of Wednesday afternoon.

The Environment Agency had issued three flood warnings and 43 flood alerts mostly across the south coast as of Wednesday afternoon
Laura Parnaby

The Met Office’s first weather warning will kick in at 5pm, covering a southeast area stretching from Southampton and the Isle of Wight in Hampshire to the coast in Kent, until 6am on Thursday.

Forecasters warn that roads, homes and businesses could be flooded and transport services disrupted.

Another yellow rain warning then comes into force across a large area of the UK for the whole of Thursday, from 12am until 11.59pm.

This covers an area stretching from Birmingham, Lincoln and Hull to north Wales, Liverpool and Manchester, as well as the east coast up to the Scottish border.

The rain brings a small chance of homes and businesses flooding, communities being temporarily cut off by flooded roads and disruptions to transport, the Met Office warns.

A third warning will come into force at 3pm on Thursday until 6pm on Friday for the east coast of Scotland, stretching from the English border up past Aberdeen with similar risks of flooding, and transport disruptions.

Met Office spokesperson Craig Snell said: “The warning areas are where we are most concerned about the risk of flooding but it doesn’t mean that the areas outside them are not going to see some pretty atrocious conditions.”

Mr Snell said a warning is in place for the southeast because “it has been quite wet there since the beginning of November with many places already seeing more than their month’s share of rain”.

Conditions could be “miserable” and “atrocious” for much of the UK
Victoria Jones

He added that conditions are “still going to be a pretty miserable evening for the whole of the south” and Londoners will have an “unpleasant commute home this evening” but the wet conditions will have passed through the area by Thursday morning.

The midlands and the north of England will have a “pretty miserable day” on Thursday after the rain sweeps in overnight, Mr Snell said.

“The rain will be accompanied by a brisk wind so it’s not going to feel feel good.”

But he added that Scotland could see “two days of persistent rain” and this may result in snow falling in the highlands – although this is not unusual for November.

“If you want to take a walk in the hills in Scotland tomorrow you may come across snow but for the lower levels it is just going to be rain,” he said.