Yellow rain warning issued across north of Wales for Sunday

A yellow rain warning has been issued for Sunday across the north of Wales and most of northern England, with travel disruption possible.

The Met Office said the area covered by the warning would widely see 20-30mm of rain, while places over higher ground could see up to 50-70mm as wet weather persists across the entire weekend.

It follows heavy and persistent rainfall on Saturday throughout with Wales with south-west and north-west England also seeing substantial downpours.

Both The Open Championship and The Ashes, taking place in Merseyside and Manchester respectively, were plagued by showers throughout the day that affected play.

The jet stream

The current poor weather is due to the position of the jet stream, which is also pushing high pressure to the south where parts of Europe have a heatwave.

Jonathan Vautrey, meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “The band of rain that we’ve currently got from Northern Ireland down to Wales and parts of central and southern England, such as Oxfordshire and Hampshire, will continue to push its way northwards overnight.

“By tomorrow morning, it’s going to stall across the central swathe of the UK in Northern Ireland, northern England and parts of north Wales.

“It primarily sits there for a fair amount of Sunday, particularly in England and Wales, which is why the Met Office has issued a yellow rain warning for that area.

“We have had a relatively wet Saturday, so topping up with the rainfall expected quite persistently throughout Sunday does have the potential to cause some travel disruption and issues with any outdoor events taking place through there.”

Elsewhere, parts of south-west, central and south-eastern England will see a slightly better day with a few brighter spells trying to emerge but still a scattering of showers around, with one or two possibly on the heavier side.

The best of the sunny spells will continue to be across Scotland, with temperatures rising above 22C on Saturday, the forecaster added.