UK weather forecast news: Flood warnings finally set to be lifted as year ends with sunnier spells

Rebecca Speare-Cole27 December 2019

Flood warnings should lift and the year is expected to end with a drier spell for much of the country, forecasters have said.

Overnight on Boxing Day and into Friday, groundwater was expected to rise in parts of southern England and north Lincolnshire following prolonged spells of rain.

On Boxing Day afternoon there were still 30 flood warnings in place, meaning flooding was expected, with a further 88 alerts, meaning it was possible.

But the Met Office said a period of high pressure was expected to come in over the weekend, bringing a dry end to the year for many.

UK weather - In pictures

1/7

Clare Dinnis, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said: "While the weather outlook is improving, groundwater levels continue to rise after recent rainfall meaning that there is a continued risk of groundwater flooding in parts of southern England over the next few days.

Brits can expect a drier end to the year
Jeremy Selwyn

"We continue to monitor rainfall and river levels closely and to operate our flood defences, reducing the risk of flooding to thousands of homes and businesses and helping to keep people safe.

"Our pumps also remain in place in Somerset where our focus is on reducing levels of water on Currymoor."

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge said the weather on Friday will see a split, with Scotland and Northern Ireland facing wet and windy weather, with some gale force winds possible, and calmer conditions in England and Wales.

Grey clouds will cover much of England and Wales, with drizzle likely on hills, but temperatures will be milder than recently, with a high of 13C in the South West.

Saturday's weather was expected to be similarly split, with drier, brighter spells for England and Wales, and rain for western Scotland.

Mr Partridge said: "After that we will generally see high pressure building at the end of the year for much of the UK, and a spell of dry weather, with temperatures near or above average."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in