21-07-2025
UK weather: When will the rain stop?
Following three successive heatwaves across the UK this summer, the last few days have seen heavy rain and showers return widely and a raft of weather warnings, including two amber and Murlough in Northern Ireland have had their wettest July day on record with 69mm and 61mm of rain respectively. More than a month's worth of rain has fallen in parts of eastern Scotland and south-eastern England over the last three days. With several yellow weather warnings still in place, when will the rain stop?
Flooding and travel disruption
Low pressure stays in charge of our weather on Monday with some persistent rain in Northern Ireland and the north of Scotland and some heavy bursts of rain developing in the Highlands later. For the rest of the UK, it is a day of sunshine and showers. The heaviest thunderstorms and downpours may bring up to 50mm of rain in a few hours so we may see one or two areas of localised flooding and disruption to travel. It is worth keeping an eye on the sky too as there may even be a funnel cloud from some of the storms today, perhaps eastern England has a better chance than again look quite widespread on Tuesday so there's a fair chance of catching one at some point. The heaviest will tend to become concentrated in northern and eastern Scotland and eastern England through the afternoon.
What is the weather like for the rest of the week?
Wednesday and Thursday will be much drier days for western areas of the UK as a ridge of high pressure moves in. Showers are expected to form in eastern areas of both Scotland and England. These will be a bit more hit and miss in nature, so there will be quite a few areas that dodge the downpours. On Friday, the highest chance of catching a shower will be in west Scotland and Northern Ireland, these probably quite short-lived. England and Wales should have a mostly dry day with some the week, between any showers there will be some warm July sunshine with temperatures often reaching the low 20Cs. It will get warmer in eastern England on Friday with temperatures reaching about 26C (79F).
What about the rest of July and into August?
Next week several areas of low pressure are likely to develop and run across or close to Scotland. These will bring spells of rain and showers, especially to northern areas. It will also be quite windy at times. The weather will tend to be drier towards the south-east of England with only small amounts of rain. There are some signs that high pressure may build from the west during early August bringing some drier, sunnier and warmer weather, but forecasting this far ahead is rarely straight forward and could well the latest Monthly Outlook here.
