Soggy Britain has more rain in one day than in all of July
...BUT IT’S SNOWING FOR STORE’S ‘FESTIVE’ LAUNCH
HEAVY showers marked the start of August yesterday as almost an inch of rain fell on some parts of Britain.
More downpours are expected later this week, though forecasters do not expect a repeat of the flood fears earlier in the summer.
Parts of the UK were hit with more rain yesterday than in the whole of last month, which was the sixth driest July on record for the South-east and southern England.
A Met Office spokesman said: “July was obviously very dry across parts of South-west Britain, in particular, so there is a good chance we could see more rain across parts of the Southwest in the first 36 hours of August than we’ve seen in the entire previous month.
Downpours
“It will be a real topsy-turvy week, no two days quite the same. But in the next five to seven days we will all see some rain at times – useful for those who have got parched gardens but obviously not great for those under canvas or trying to enjoy the beach.”
The downpours are not expected to lead to flooding because so little rain has fallen in recent weeks.
The Met Office said St Catherine’s Point, on the Isle of Wight, had its driest July ever, with just 0.05in (1.4mm) of rain.
This was in contrast to much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which were much wetter.
Later this week, Britain can expect temperatures in the mid70sF (25C) in the South and 64F (18C) in the North.
The mixed forecast came after a water spout was spotted at Thorpeness over the Suffolk coastline and a funnel cloud formed over Lydd in Kent at the weekend. The next chance for warm weather will be early in the second half of August, particularly in the South.
But the Met Office has warned there is “certainly no strong signal for any prolonged period of hot weather” at the moment. A spokesman added: “We saw in July how quickly it can turn hot for a day and then be all gone the next. It’s not completely ruling out some hot summer weather but it’s unlikely to be a long-lived event if it is to come off.”