UK weather: Heavy rain forecast by Met Office as scorching temperatures cool down

‘It isn’t necessarily a gradual decline towards Autumn and winter, but we have seen a return to cooler and fresher patterns,’ says Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge

The scorching temperatures that blanketed Britain for much of the late August bank holiday are dying down as thunderstorms and heavy rain are forecast for the weekend.

Tuesday saw a fourth day of high temperatures with the mercury reaching 33 degrees in some parts of the United Kingdom.

This followed a record-breaking temperature for the late August bank holiday weekend of 33.2C at Heathrow on Sunday. The last record was 31.5C in 2001.

Spokesman for the Met Office, Grahame Madge, said it was unlikely that such high temperatures would be felt in the UK in the coming week.

“We are not likely to see anything else much above the mid to high twenties, though there’s a possibility of 27C today in the south east where they are still hanging onto the warm air,” he said.

“It isn’t necessarily a gradual decline towards Autumn and winter, but we have seen a return to cooler and fresher patterns.”

He said the temperatures had cooled considerably as heavy rains lashed northern England and parts of Scotland late on Tuesday night.

And while the Met Office forecaster said there were no weather warnings in place at the moment, he expected some rain to arrive in the coming days.

The Met Office’s latest forecast showed some rain was expected across Wales and southwest England, Scotland and Northern Ireland today but that would be short lived.

Tomorrow would stay mostly dry with sunny spells and isolated showers, ahead of forecast wind and rain in the north of the United Kingdom on Friday that would spread across the country on the weekend.

Mr Madge said the heaviest amount of rain would hit northern parts of the United Kingdom on Friday and Saturday.

“A warm plume of air will bring heavy rain for North and West Britain, though there is a little bit of uncertainty around that,” he said.

“Where that heaviest rainfall will be, will be split between Cumbria and the West Highlands.”