Britain will be back on flood alert later this week with a month’s worth of rain expected to fall on Wednesday.
The country is currently colder than Siberia in a -6C (21F) Bank Holiday washout – with eight inches’ of snow expected to fall in Scotland on Tuesday.
50mph gales, a month’s rain and flooding in England will resume from Wednesday after a comparatively dry few days.
Beach resorts resembled ghost towns over the Bank Holiday as a rain hit all parts and a trickle of determined holidaymakers shivered in fleeces.
Tourism chiefs said the wet Bank Holiday capped a disastrous weekend costing resorts millions in lost visitor revenue. Northern Ireland suffered a 10-hour washout.
Sun lovers would have been better off in Siberia. Mirnvy, eastern Russia, hit a sunny 17C but the soggy Midlands saw 9C, 7C colder than normal in May.
The mercury plunged to -5.9C on Monday at Kinbrace, Highland, Scotland, close to the UK’s lowest ever May temperature, the -9.4C recorded in 1941. At least four stations have broken May lowest temperature records.
Snow hit Yorkshire over the weekend and south-east England fell below freezing in parts. Frost damaged farmers’ crops and gardeners’ plants.
The Met Office said a giant eight inches of snow will hit mountains across the northern half of Scotland on Tuesday night.
Britain is shivering through the biggest spring temperature plunge since 1938. But forecasters say the washout – which saw Oxford University record its wettest April in 245 years – will get even worse.
The Met Office said heavy overnight rain tonight will move eastwards.
A severe weather alert have been issued for the Midlands, South and Wales from Wednesday night for up to two inches of rain – a month’s worth in 24 hours. Snow will hit the North.
Government forecasters warned of more flooding and transport chaos. Gales reaching 50mph will buffet vehicles and could damage properties.
The Environment Agency, which says the River Thames is too dangerous for boating and has three flood warnings and 15 alerts in place, is expected to issue more flood warnings.
The Bank Holiday freeze was blamed on a plunge of Polar air – with this week’s deluges downpours due to warmer winds from the south-west colliding with the chilly air mass. There is no warm weather as high-altitude Atlantic jet stream winds have stalled, leaving wet low pressure systems stuck over Britain.
Forecaster Brian Gaze of The Weather Outlook said: “It was a very poor Bank Holiday – although that’s not unusual, unfortunately.
“And with massive Wednesday afternoon temperature differences – with 1C on higher ground in the north and 18C a couple of hundred of miles south – there is potential for very significant rainfall. Parts can expect to get very wet.”
Met Office forecaster Tom Morgan said: “The early hours of Monday were particularly cold for the time of year, close to record levels in northern Scotland. Even parts of south-east England were below freezing.
“The daytime saw spells of rain or showers for most places, with Northern Ireland seeing rain from around 7am which didn’t clear until 4pm or 5pm.
“Heavier overnight rain in western England will move east on Tuesday.
“Scotland will have a wet Tuesday, while the Highlands north of Fort William seeing 15-20cm of snow on mountain peaks by Tuesday evening, with 2-5cm down to 500m. Ski centres will love it.
“A deep low pressure area will move across the southern half of the UK on Wednesday night and Thursday, with large totals of 20-30mm widely across the southern half of the UK, and 50mm in some places.
“Snow could fall on Wednesday night over higher ground of the north Pennines, Cumbria and southern Scotland.
“There will be possible localised flooding and an impact on transport networks.”
This is a copy of the full article provided by Telegraph
