UK weather – latest: Snow and a ‘month’s worth of rain’ to hit Scotland amid flood alerts
Winds of up to 50mph possible near the coast
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Your support makes all the difference.The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning over parts of Scotland for Friday as “over a month’s rain” is expected to fall over 24 hours, with the highlands likely to receive snow.
Areas near the coast could see gusts of around 50mph while parts of eastern of Scotland could see rainfall of up to 100mm across the hills of Angus and Aberdeenshire.
The weather service also said fast-flowing water and deep floodwater is likely to cause “danger to life”.
“The heaviest rain will gradually move north on Thursday and Friday, with further warnings issued,” Met Office chief meteorologist Matthew Lehnert said.
Two days of “persistent rain” in Scotland may result in snow falling in the highlands, Met Office spokesperson Craig Snell said, although he added 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.
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Strong winds may have ‘coastal impacts’ to the north east of Scotland
Strong wind in the south east of Scotland may have “local coastal impacts” for the north east, the Met Office has said.
“Large waves may cause spray over-topping, erosion and possibly some coastal debris,” the weather service tweeted.
Yellow weather warning in place across parts of Scotland and England
As well as an amber warning, a yellow weather alert is in place for Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Scottish Borders, as well as Northumberland in north east England.
Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said: “We’ve got an area of low pressure that is quite slow moving, the same area of low pressure that brought quite a lot of rain to the south east of the UK today and is now moving up the east coast of the UK.
“Later on Friday that rainfall should start to ease as low pressure moves away.”
Average rainfall for November in Aberdeenshire is 113mm, while for Angus it is 122.8mm, meaning that if these areas do see 150mm of rain, as the amber warning says is possible, more than a month’s worth of rain will fall in the space of just a couple of days.
However Mr Claydon stressed the highest accumulations of rain are only expected across higher ground rather than across the whole of the areas covered by the amber warning.
A month’s worth of rain set to hit eastern Scotland on Friday
An entire month’s rain is expected to hit eastern Scotland in the next 24 to 36 hours, the Met Office has said.
Take a look at how much rainfall is likely to fall across the region:
What to expect for an amber weather warning
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for parts of Scotland on Friday. Here is what to expect, according to the weather service:
- Homes and businesses are likely to be flooded, causing damage to some buildings
- Some fast flowing or deep floodwater is likely, causing danger to life
- Delays and some cancellations to train and bus services are likely
- Spray and flooding leading to difficult driving conditions and some road closures
- A good chance some communities will be cut off by flooded roads
- Power cuts and loss of other services to some homes and businesses is possible
In pictures: Britons brace for ‘atrocious’ weather conditions
Wet and chilly afternoon for Scotland and northern England
The Met Office tweeted that most of Scotland and northern England will be wet and chilly this afternoon, with some particularly heavy rain in the east and some strong winds on northern England coasts.
Network Rail Scotland to place speed restrictions from Thursday afternoon
Network Rail Scotland said it will impose speed restrictions on some routes for safety reasons from Thursday afternoon “due to the extreme rainfall that’s been forecast”, and journey times on those services will take longer.
Parts of the Edinburgh to Aberdeen, Stirling to Dundee and Ladybank to Perth routes will be affected, as will part of the Highland Main Line and the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh Waverley and Berwick.
ScotRail tweeted on Thursday morning: “Over a month’s worth of rain is expected to fall in many areas across Eastern Scotland between now and 0700 on Saturday.
“For your safety, speed restrictions will come into place later today - check your journey on our app before travelling over the next few days.
“The first route to be affected will be Edinburgh-Dunbar in both directions from 1200 today.
“Trains will be limited to 40mph (down from 100mph) over a seven-mile section of track, adding around 10 mins to journeys.”
The Met Office yellow warning covers Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Scottish Borders, as well as Northumberland in north east England.
Speed restrictions imposed on rail network as 'extreme rainfall’ forecasted
Rail passengers have been warned to expect longer journey times when speed restrictions are brought in on some routes due to forecasts of “extreme rainfall”.
ScotRail said more than a month’s worth of rain is expected to fall in many areas across eastern Scotland between Thursday and 7am on Saturday.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning of rain for eastern Scotland which is in force from 3pm on Thursday until 6pm on Friday, while an amber “heavy rain” weather warning is in force for Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Perth and Kinross from midnight on Thursday until 3pm on Friday.
The yellow alert warns of rainfall building up across the high ground of eastern Scotland, with 50-70mm expected and up to 100mm possible across the hills of Angus and Aberdeenshire.
Forecasters said the area covered by the amber warning could see more than 100mm of rain, and even 150mm in parts of the Grampians and Cairngorms.
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