Up to a month's worth of rain set to soak parts of Britain in next 24 hours with yellow warnings in place as 'soggy Tuesday' fails to deliver long anticipated summer blast
A month's worth of rain is set to fall on parts of Britain tonight as a weather front sweeps northwards across the UK - but it's not all good news down south.
Low pressure fronts are sweeping across the country from the south, pushing the rain that has plagued southern and central parts of England and Wales in recent days to the north.
A yellow weather warning for rain has been issued for swathes of northern Scotland, running from 10pm today until the end of Wednesday.
Up to 90mm of rain is expected to fall in that time; the average UK rainfall for July is 82.48mm.
The alert covers the Highlands as far west as Ullapool, Wick to the north, Peterhead to the east and Arbroath to the south.
WEYMOUTH: Grey skies abound in Dorset, where heavy rain will hit hard later on Tuesday
WEYMOUTH: The rain began early in this seaside town - but there's more to come in the afternoon
WINDSOR: Flooding isn't troubling this cyclist in Berkshire - but there's more waterlogging to come later on
HENLEY-ON-THAMES: Rain on Sunday couldn't deter these rowing fans - but there's more rain on the way for parts of southern England
WIMBLEDON: Spectators sheltering from the weather on Sunday - and there's a good chance of rain in SW19 today
HENLEY-ON-THAMES: Torrential rain on Sunday (above) is likely to rear its head again today, with flood alerts in Oxfordshire
A huge weather front is pushing its way north today (pictured: 5pm today) - with showers across parts of central and eastern England, and heavy rain hitting northern Scotland
A yellow alert for rain is in place for a large part of northern and north-eastern Scotland (above)
There are also flood alerts across parts of Devon and southern and central England (above)
For those further south there is better news: clear spots will follow across central England and Wales - cloudy rather than sunny.
But there are heavier showers later today, particularly across London and East Anglia - bad news for the Wimbledon crowds.
Flood alerts are in place across parts of Devon, which is set to be hit heaviest by the downpours this morning, as well as along the Coln, Upper Loddon, Lower Colne, Frays and Thame rivers in the south, and tributaries in Leicester.
Temperatures will peak at a very unseasonal 21C in central England, as little as 18C in the North, and just 16C in Scotland.
Alex Burkill, meteorologist with the Met Office, said today would be a 'rather soggy' Tuesday.
'There's going to be rain across many parts because of a weather system that has pushed in overnight...it's a wet start across the southern half of the UK,' he said.
'Some bright and sunny spells will develop but those temperatures will be a little bit below average elsewhere. It's going to be quite cool for the time of year.
'It is going to be especially wet across northern parts of Scotland here, totals really building up...we could see in excess of 90mm.'
Britain's summer has been unexpectedly wet to date - with cooler temperatures than normal and wet weather far more frequent than expected for this time of year thanks to the jet stream lingering on Britain's shores.
Hopes of a return to more seasonally appropriate weather have been dashed for the week - with some sunny spells to come on Wednesday but temperatures barely hitting 20C from now until Sunday.
Stormy weather in recent days has caused chaos for holidaymakers - with travellers hoping to fly from London's Heathrow Airport forced to sleep in the terminal overnight due to catastrophic conditions over the Atlantic.
Two British Airways planes were struck by lightning at the weekend - forcing the airline to withdraw both jets for safety checks.
And the recent unsummery conditions are thought to have hit attendance figures at Wimbledon.
Attendance on a particularly soggy Friday last week was the lowest for day five of the Grand Slam tournament in 25 years.
HEATHROW: Stranded passengers hunker down for the night in the terminal after dozens of flights were cancelled on Sunday
WIMBLEDON: Fans make the best of the day despite the weather - as figures show attendance has dropped on last year amidst dismal weather
PORTSMOUTH: A bright sunrise on Monday morning - but there is rain to come later today
TYNEMOUTH: A rainbow appears over the northern town on Sunday. Heavy rain is forecast for the area later today as a weather front pushes north
DUNSDEN: Misty conditions on Oxfordshire on Monday. The area will see some rainfall today as the bad weather pushes north
High street retailers are thought to have suffered too - with no rush to grab the usual clothing associated with this time of year because there has been no good weather in which to wear it.
June's poor weather saw consumer spending slump as shoppers gave up on their gardens and DIY and bought new televisions to watch the Euros instead.
Total retail sales across the UK were down by 0.2% on last June according to the BRC (British Retail Consortium)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor.
Separate figures from Barclays show consumer card spending fell by 0.6% year on year in June - the first decline since February 2021 - as the colder weather early in the month hampered spending at clothing stores, pubs and garden centres.
Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: 'The dreariness didn't dampen spending across the board, with takeaways, digital content and entertainment all benefiting from people sheltering at home.
'Hopefully we'll see sustained interest in the Euros - regardless of England's fate - and sunnier weather driving people to their local in July.'
