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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Chris Slater

More rain and hail expected in Greater Manchester this weekend as flood warnings issued for parts of UK

Hail and further rain are forecast for the rest of the weekend after torrential downpours across Greater Manchester on Saturday.

It comes as 35 flood warnings were issued for parts of the UK following the morning deluge. More than 14.5mm of rain fell in Chadderton in Oldham from midnight until midday with over 14mm in Rochdale and over 11.5mm in Salford.

A number of non-league football matches, including at Chadderton FC, were postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The downpours were followed by some sunny spells on Saturday morning.

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The Met Office said in Manchester it was likely to be largely dry for the remainder of the day (Saturday), though there was the possibility of some isolated showers and even hail at around 4pm.

Temperatures will peak at around 10 degrees celcius before dropping to around 6C in the late evening and into Sunday.

Further bands of showers are set to move in on Sunday (Met Office)

Sunday is expected to be a colder day, with temperatures dropping to as low as 2C and peaking only as high as 7C. There is the chance of some further showers from 11am until around 4pm, though they will likely be much lighter than those seen on Saturday.

They will be broken up by some dry spells though it will likely remain overcast and windy making it feel particularly chilly. It could be a wet end to Sunday and a damp start to Monday with possible showers forecast from the early hours right through the day on Monday.

We will likely see more heavy rain, as experienced earlier, on Tuesday when torrential downpours are forecast on and off from 6am until around 6pm.

Manchester was hit by downpours on Saturday morning (Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)

Elsewhere in the UK, some 35 flood warnings have now been issued across England and Wales after the heavy downpours hit large parts of the country. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency also issued six flood alerts for around Scotland.

It comes after the Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for rain in Wales and south-west England overnight which forecast that “many” places had been expected to see 20-30 mm of rainfall over six to nine hours, with around 50-60 mm falling over higher ground.

South Wales was hit by heavy downpours in the 12 hours to 9am Saturday. Libanus had 44mm of rain and Gorslas had 42.2 mm. There was “significant rainfall” in south-west England at the same time, said Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill.

This included the 27.2mm of rain which hit Harbertonford and the 26.5mm downpour in Cornwood overnight. Recent rain had made some areas “more susceptible” to disruption, said Mr Burkill.

There is also the chance of some hail (Manchester Evening News)

“The rain was heavy but I think it was that it lasted for quite a long period of time. It was quite a big band of rain that slowly moved across the UK. It was less the intensity of the rain but how long it lasted which led to those rainfall totals building up.

“It has come off the back of some unsettled weather as it has not been very dry recently and so river catchments everywhere are quite saturated – that would have made any problems worse.”

He said the whole country should expect further “unsettled weather” this weekend, which could see some heavy cloud and rain replaced by a mixture of sunshine and showers.

The Met Office has also said that “some showers (are) likely to be heavy with hail and a chance of thunder”. It could be windy and turn colder later. The showers could be “heavy at times” by Saturday night but some clear spells are likely across the east, according to the forecasters.

They added that it is expected to “remain windy with severe gales developing in north-west Scotland”.

Regions from western Scotland to south-west England may be hit by “shorter-lived but more intense” downpours as heavy bursts of rain could see up to 20mm in a few hours, said Mr Burkhill. There may also be some “hefty showers” further east.

Blustery showers are also forecast for the rest of the weekend and temperatures may drop to 9C to 10C on Sunday, down from about 14C.

“The highest temperatures will be in the South but even in the North it is still going to be mid-to-high single figures so it is not going to be cold but just a bit chillier than it has been" Mr Burkhill added.

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