Wednesday afternoon forecast 17/08/22

17 August - National weather forecast presented by Aidan McGivern.

Transcript

00:00Hello again. The risk of hit and miss thunderstorms, flooding, difficult driving conditions is

00:06across southern parts of the UK today with an amber warning in force for the far south-east.

00:12So for Essex, London, Thames Estuary, Kent, Sussex and into Hampshire, that's where the

00:18most impactful showers and thunderstorms are likely during Wednesday afternoon. Yellow

00:23warning there for other areas affected by slow-moving showers as they develop. And these

00:28showers will be hit and miss, but where they occur, risk of serious impacts, frequent lightning,

00:35hail, but also very large rainfall totals, especially where there's an amber warning

00:40in just a few hours. So 50mm perhaps in less than an hour. And there is a signal for 50

00:46to 100mm in a few hours for the south-east corner. And that kind of rainfall in that

00:53short space of time, even though we've had a lack of rainfall this year so far, would

00:57cause flooding and driving impacts. That's why there's an amber warning and that's why

01:02there's a yellow warning for elsewhere across southern England and south Wales. Now, for

01:08the rest of the UK, a ridge of high pressure is building in and as a result, things are

01:12settling down compared with the last few days. That's only ahead of the next weather system

01:17that approaches later on in the day. So away from those very lively showers and thunderstorms

01:23in the south. Rain tending to peter out but remaining in places fairly damp across the

01:30Midlands into mid Wales. A lot of cloud cover here. Brighter skies for north Wales, northern

01:35England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Some sunshine coming through. Most places dry and

01:41on the cool side, 18 to 20 Celsius. Still some warmth there in the south-east away from

01:46the showers. Now into the evening and the showers and thunderstorms continue for a time,

01:52perhaps affecting rush hour, but eventually they die away by late evening. And clear spells

01:58for many at first, so keep a lot of cloud in the south and south-east and increasingly

02:03cloudy skies for western Scotland and northern Ireland. Outbreaks of many light to moderate

02:07rain arrive here by the end of the night. So mid-teens in the north-west with that rain

02:12arriving. Mid-teens also in the south but in between where we get some clear spells,

02:16temperatures perhaps dipping into the low-teens or even single figures. Some brightness, eastern

02:21Scotland, northern England, parts of the south-west. First thing Thursday, a lot of

02:25cloud elsewhere and outbreaks of rain pushing into western Scotland, north-west England,

02:31clearing northern Ireland but turning heavier and more persistent across north and west

02:35Wales and north-west England. That's where the focus for the heavier rainfall is expected

02:40but not on the same scale as the recent thunderstorms. And it does clear up across Scotland and northern

02:45Ireland. Brighter skies here, albeit with a few showers and a blustery breeze. To the

02:50south-east, still the potential for some heavy showers around. Again, not quite on

02:55the same scale as recent days. Still the potential for the odd rumble of thunder but mostly these

03:01are well-scattered showers and there'll be a better chance of light winds, sunny spells

03:06and temperatures into the mid-twenties. The outbreaks of rain across north-western areas

03:11slowly push south-eastwards during Thursday evening so dribs and drabs of rainfall into

03:16south Wales, south-west England as well as the Midlands. But clearer skies come into

03:21Scotland and northern Ireland before further blustery showers arrive later. So fairly mixed

03:27weather over the next few days but the main point of concern for the rest of Wednesday

03:31are those thunderstorms in the south-east.