Category Archives: UK weather

England and Wales brace for further heavy rain with flood warnings issued

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Northern England will face most severe weather conditions and up to 70mm of rain could fall at highest areas

Parts of England and Wales are bracing for further heavy rain with forecasters warning up to 70mm could fall in some areas.

Northern England is set to see the heaviest rain, with weather conditions so severe, Sunday’s Cycling World Championship route from Leeds to Harrogate was shortened from 284.5km to 261km. Riders were taking a shortcut from near Aysgarth to Leyburn to avoid dangerous roads.

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Weatherwatch: 2018 heatwave left people praying for rain

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While temperatures in the UK were just about tolerable last summer, Europe faced serious extremes

Last year brought the summer of the heatwave. As Britain baked in sunshine, the England men’s football team even managed to reach a World Cup semi-final.

But while temperatures in Britain remained just the right side of uncomfortably hot, much of Europe experienced serious extremes, in the continent’s warmest August on record. And far from being confined to the area around the Mediterranean, even Scandinavia had worryingly hot weather.

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Peak District town evacuated as dam threatens to burst

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Residents told to leave Whaley Bridge after heavy rains damage reservoir above town

Hundreds of homes were evacuated in a Derbyshire town on Thursday when a dam threatened to burst after being damaged during extreme rainfall.

Around 1,400 people in 400 houses in Whaley Bridge were told to leave their properties with just minutes’ notice due to “an unprecedented, fast-moving, emergency situation” caused by heavy downpours.

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UK’s 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 2002: Met Office

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Data also shows that none of Britain’s coldest years have happened since 1963

The UK’s 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 2002, the Met Office has said. Its statistics stretching back to 1884 reveal a worrying trend, as the planet as a whole deals with the climate crisis.

In a further indication of how the climate is heating up, the records show that none of the UK’s 10 coldest years have occurred since 1963.

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UK weather: thunderstorms set to cause further flooding

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Roads closed in north-west after Manchester area gets two weeks’ worth of rain in 24 hours

Thunderstorms are expected to hit parts of the UK this week with a risk of more flooding following a weekend of heavy downpours.

Commuters woke up to road closures and diverted trains after parts of Greater Manchester were hit with two weeks’ worth of rain in 24 hours.

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UK records hottest day of year and could hit new high of 39C

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Writtle in Essex was hottest on Wednesday at 34.3C; highest on record was 38.5C in 2003

Britain experienced the hottest day of the year – so far – on Wednesday, and temperatures are anticipated to break records again on Thursday.

The Met Office said the highest temperature recorded on Wednesday was 34.3C at Writtle near Chelmsford in Essex, followed by 33.9C in Cavendish, Suffolk. The previous highest temperature of 2019 was 34C at Heathrow at the end of June.

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UK weather: heatwave to come after storm and gales

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Met Office issues yellow warning for Scotland before sunshine breaks through later in week

Britain will experience a brief heatwave this week, but not before a storm brings torrential rain and strong gales to some areas.

The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for western parts of Scotland on Sunday and Monday, with thunderstorms, heavy rain and a risk of flooding. Rain and strong winds were also forecast to hit parts of Northern Ireland, north-west England and Wales on Sunday.

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Global heating: London to have climate similar to Barcelona by 2050

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Nearly 80% of cities to undergo dramatic and potentially disastrous changes, study finds

London will have a similar climate in three decades’ time to that of Barcelona today, according to research – but if that seems enticing, a warning: the change could be accompanied by severe drought.

Madrid will feel like present-day Marrakech by 2050, and Stockholm like Budapest, according to a report on the likely impacts of the climate crisis. Around the world, cities that are currently in temperate or cold zones in the northern hemisphere will resemble cities more than 600 miles (1,000km) closer to the equator, with damaging effects on health and infrastructure.

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UK records hottest day of year so far

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Temperature hits 30.8C in Surrey with London forecast to be hotter than Hawaii

Britain has recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures predicted to soar as high as 35C (95F) in London and southern England.

Shortly before midday on Saturday the Met Office said a temperature of 30.8C had been recorded in Charlwood, Surrey, and that it could approach the all-time record for June of 35.6C, reached in Southampton in 1976.

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UK weather: flooding causes train delays and road closures

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Kent and Sussex worst hit by floods but high temperatures expected later in the week

Flooding and train cancellations have hit parts of England at the start of a week in which temperatures are expected to rise above 30C (86F).

Almost half a month’s worth of rain fell in just a few hours in some areas on Tuesday morning, with Kent and Sussex being the worst hit.

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Lincolnshire flooding: hundreds of homes evacuated

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Military helicopters are drafted in to repair broken bank of River Steeping in Wainfleet

Hundreds of homes have been evacuated in a Lincolnshire town following severe flooding as the local MP warned that residents are “by no means out of the woods yet”.

Residents in at least 590 homes in Wainfleet and Thorpe Culvert were told to leave as waters continued to surge on Saturday.

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UK forecast to record hottest day of year

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Temperatures in south-east could reach 29C though it will be cooler in the north

The UK is forecast to record the hottest day of the year so far as temperatures are set to soar this weekend.

According to the Met Office, the south-east of England could reach 29C on Saturday, 0.5C higher than the joint warmest days of the year so far, on 19 April and 15 May.

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5G signal could jam satellites that help with weather forecasting

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New mobile system to be launched this year ‘will put lives at risk’

The introduction of 5G mobile phone networks could seriously affect weather forecasters’ ability to predict major storms.

That is the stark warning of meteorologists around the world, who say the next-generation wireless system now being rolled out across the globe is likely to disrupt the delicate satellite instruments they use to monitor changes in the atmosphere.

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UK weather: country enjoys record-breaking Easter Sunday

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England just misses out on record, but new highs set in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

It has been raining in Spain and it’s jumper weather on the coast of Sicily, but in the UK it has been another glorious day, with record-breaking temperatures across much of the country.

Amid warnings that the heatwave was evidence of climate change, the Met Office said new Easter Sunday temperature records were set in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with England just missing out on a new record.

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UK temperature hits 70-year high for Easter bank holiday

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25.5C recorded, with 27C expected on Monday, which would make UK warmer than Morocco

Britons experienced the hottest day of the year so far on Saturday, and the hottest Easter bank holiday weekend for 70 years, as the temperature hit 25.5C (77.9F) in Gosport in Hampshire.

The temperature is expected to rise even further on Monday to 27C, making the sunniest spots in the UK warmer than most of Europe, Algeria and Morocco.

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Easter weather: parts of UK to be hotter than Corfu and Mallorca

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Temperatures forecast to exceed 20C on dry and settled bank holiday weekend

Parts of the UK will be hotter than some of Europe’s top holiday destinations over the Easter weekend, with temperatures exceeding 20C (68F).

As sunseekers plan to go away over the coming weeks, the UK could be hotter than St Tropez in southern France, the Greek island of Corfu, Bodrum in southern Turkey and the Spanish island of Mallorca, which is forecast to be cloudy on Saturday and Sunday.

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