Weather forecast: Norwegian blast to bring snow as Met Office issues three days of warnings

Between noon on Monday and 5am on Tuesday, rain will be heavy and prolonged at time with 20-30mm falling widely, the forecaster said.

Areas affected include Preston, Bradford, Blackpool and Lancaster. Flooding of a few homes is possible in a few areas while the rain may also cause some travel disruption.

Wednesday will see yet another yellow warning, this time for strong winds across the northernmost parts of Scotland beween 7am and 7pm.

The warnings mean January will come to a wet and windy end, with the UK having been hit by two storms already this month – Isha and Jocelyn.

Alex Burkill, meteorologist at the Met Office said that western Scotland would be worst affected by the plummet with rural spots in northern Ireland “well below freezing”.

The rest of the UK will be spared the harsh cold due to a “’blanket of cloud”.

He said: “It’s going to be a fairly drab start to Tuesday, grey with particularly northeast England still fairly drizzly. A bit of a brisk breeze will also pick up along the North Sea coast as well.”

Sunshine will emerge for many regions including Scotland, Ireland and the north of England after a frosty start to the morning.

Parts of northern England will experience the worst of the downpour but other areas of the country will experience milder rain.

Craig Snell, meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “We’ve really got a weather front kind of slicing the country and that’s where the rain band is – to the south of it we’ve got the milder air, to the north of it the colder.

“So it’s going to be a cold front which is trying to push that that milder air away. It probably won’t win the day in the south, it will hang on to the milder air for a little bit longer.”

Regions caught in the rain, including southern Scotland, northern England and much of Wales, will see heavy and persistent showers in places and feel “pretty miserable” until rush hour on Tuesday morning, Mr Snell said.

With days of yellow weather warnings in place for heavy rain and expected flooding, the Met Office has said that strong winds and heavy rain will move into the northwest of the country on Wednesday.

Although temperatures will remain above average, the Met Office said: “Cloud and rain [are] spreading eastwards through Thursday, driest towards the south. Very mild for all. Still windy.”

A yellow weather warning is in place for three days across regions of the UK, specifically the north of England. Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and all the surrounding areas are expected to be impacted by heavy rains.

The Met Office reports that “heavy rain may lead to some flooding and impacts to travel” and the following could be expected:

• Flooding of a few homes and businesses is possible
• Spray and flooding on roads probably making journey times longer
• Bus and train services probably affected with journey times taking longer

As the UK is hit by further yellow weather warnings expecting heavy rain and flooding, The Independent explains how to check for flood alerts and weather warnings in your area.

The UK has endured a mild but rainy start to 2023 after an astonishingly cold December in which most parts of the country experienced snow, ice and prolonged exposure to sub-zero temperatures.

By contrast, the new year has been a demoralisingly drizzly affair so far, defined by near-daily downpours that have left paths muddy, fields sodden and rivers and streams in some danger of bursting their banks.

A Met Office spokesperson told The Independent that while snow would be confined to the highlands of Scotland in the coming days, “a cold spell of air could bring possible snow from the middle of February onwards”.

It comes as the country recovers from an Arctic blast which brought freezing temperatures.