UK weather: Heavy, persistent rain to dampen Britain over next few days

Two different weather systems will bring some persistent rain to the UK over the next few days after a bright and breezy start to the week, forecasters say.

Central areas of the UK will experience the worst of the rain on Tuesday, with conditions looking brighter in southern England and parts of Scotland.

Alex Deakin, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said that central regions will be "rather dull and drab with outbreaks of rain that could be quite heavy, especially over Wales and north-west England" on Tuesday.

"But in the far south, many places on Tuesday staying dry and bright," he added.

A zone of rain will spread eastwards from Northern Ireland as the morning progresses, bringing showers to north-west England and Wales for most of the afternoon and early evening.

This band of wet weather will get patchier as it continues its journey into the Midlands.

As a result of the wet weather, temperatures on Tuesday are expected to vary quite widely, rising above 20C in the London area but struggling to reach the mid-teens under the rain on the Welsh coast.

Although Scotland will see below-average temperatures for this time of year with highs of 17C, it will only have a few slowing moving showers throughout the day.

Looking further ahead into the week, Mr Deakin said that a new weather system would move into the UK from the west on Wednesday. However, there is "a bit of uncertainty" about the course it will take.

"Generally it's likely to still be quite grey and damp across the south during Wednesday, further outbreaks of rain before that next weather system brings more rain in from the west later on," Mr Deakin added.

However, conditions will feel warm and humid in the south on Wednesday, and it will be a brighter day for Scotland and Northern Ireland.