More rain forecast for Yorkshire in soggy end to summer holidays

A person braves the deserted and wet beach at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where rain continues to fall on a grey and wet day. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday August, 24, 2015. Photo credit should read: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Parts of the UK saw more than a fortnight’s rainfall in 24 hours, and the South and East of England were set to be lashed with “intense, slow-moving thundery downpours”, with a risk of strong winds, flooding, and disruption to travel.

A yellow weather warning for rain remains in place across the south of England, and some parts may see 40-60mm fall in just a few hours as the rain sets in.

In Yorkshire, showers or longer spells of rain are forecast tonight. The Met Office predicts a dry start tomorrow with sunny spells, followed by increasing clouds in the afternoon and the possibility of patchy rain in the evening.

Occasionally heavy rain or showers are forecast Wednesday and Thursday, with sunny spells in-between. Friday is likely to be drier, with fewer showers and further sunny spells.

Katesbridge in Co Down, Northern Ireland, was the wettest part of the country overnight on Sunday, with 56.6mm falling in the 24 hours to 8am - compared to its monthly average of 97mm, according to the Met Office.

There was also heavy rain in Exeter (33.2mm), Bournemouth (26.4mm) and Gogerddan in south west Wales (25.8mm). Bramham, in West Yorkshire also had a wet weekend, with 72.4mm of rain falling over 48 hours.

Following a flurry of bets this morning, bookmakers Coral said it had slashed the odds on August being the wettest on record, from 2-1 to evens. Coral’s John Hill said the betting suggests “we may have seen the best of the summer weather this year”.

But Met Office’s Laura Young said unsettled weather was “not unusual” for the time of the year. She said it was “unlikely” to be damper than August 1912, when a record-breaking rainfall of 167.6mm fell across the UK.

She said: “August is one of the wettest and most volatile months of the summer period. You are actually more likely to see dry weather in June and July than you are in August.”

Met Office data up to the middle of August shows an average of 39.33mm has fallen - about 44 per cent of the monthly average.

Ms Young added: “We can never be 100 per cent sure. I’m relatively confident that it is unlikely that it will be the wettest August on record at this point in time.”

The Environment Agency, which had 10 flood alerts in place, said it had received no reports of flooding.