Met Office extends Lancashire weather warning and issues another as 'thunderstorms possible'

The weather warnings remain force until later tonight
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


The Met Office has issued a new weather warning for Lancashire - and extended another - as heavy downpours continue to batter the region.

The first yellow weather warning for rain, which covers Preston, Chorley, South Ribble, Blackburn, Darwen, Rossendale and West Lancashire, came into force at 6pm on Tuesday (October 15). It was due to last until 12pm today (October 16), however it has now been extended until 9pm tonight.

A second yellow weather warning covering the rest of Lancashire has now been issued and is in effect from 12pm until midnight. The Met Office said flooding is possible and some areas could see 50 to 80mm of rain in six hours and 'isolated thunderstorms are possible'.

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Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst warned on Wednesday morning that spells of heavy rain could lead to travel disruption and flooding in places. Mr Dewhurst said: "Outbreaks of rain have been pushing north across the night.

"The rain is quite extensive across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the west of England, and when it’s not raining it’s cloudy, misty and murky. It will stay pretty similar in terms of the areas that will see the outbreaks of rain, it could be heavy at times.

"The driest will likely be across the east and south-east of England. It will start to become drier across the south-western parts overnight; by the end of the night it will be more restricted to parts of Scotland and north-east England.

"Tomorrow there will be rain first thing across Scotland and north-east England. It will quickly clear and be a much brighter day for everyone. There will be a few showers but lots of places will stay dry and temperatures will be between 16-19C."

In Lancashire, the heavy rain is set to continue until around 2pm today. Forecasters predict the rain will then ease off slightly, however more downpours are expected from 6pm until 11pm.

The forecaster added that on Friday there will be a west and east split developing with cloud and rain in western parts of the UK while central and eastern areas will be dry with sunny spells. Temperatures will be between 13-16C. The warning comes after heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding across the UK in September and early October.

Some counties of England saw their wettest September on record, receiving three times the normal rainfall, and Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire had their wettest months ever – although the rain came after a drier than normal summer for much of the UK.

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