There’s colder weather in store for many as Storm Christoph pulls away from the UK and rainfall starts to ease, although river levels in parts of the UK could continue to rise for a little time to come.
Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, Craig Woolhouse, said: “Exceptionally high river levels brought on by last night’s rain could continue to affect parts of the northwest of England today and may also bring flooding to parts of Yorkshire today and Friday, with a risk of damage to buildings in some communities. There’s also a chance of localised flooding of land and roads across parts of the South of England on Saturday due to further rain.
“We urge people to keep away from swollen rivers and not to drive through flood water – it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car. People should check their flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest situation at via Gov.uk or follow @EnvAgency on Twitter for the latest flood updates.”
Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Paul Gundersen, said: “Colder air is now established across the UK as Storm Christoph moves away into the North Sea, and gale force winds will impact the northeast of the country.
“There are three National Severe weather warnings in place, two in north and east Scotland, one for rain and one for snow valid until noon on Friday, and an ice warning cover western Scotland, north west England, Northern Ireland and much of Wales, valid until 10 am Friday.”
The cold weather stays with us throughout the weekend and into next week with some sunny spells and wintry showers, mainly in the north and north west. The southern half of the UK is likely to be more unsettled with some spells of rain, and perhaps also some snow.
Storm Christoph brought some heavy, and at times record breaking, rain to parts of the UK. Provisional figures show Honister, in Cumbria, received 123.8 mm of rainfall on Tuesday (19th Jan), a new daily rainfall record for this winter and 2021. However, it was well short of England’s all time January daily rainfall record of 180.4mm set in 2005.
Provisional figures also show the 19th was the wettest January day for Rochdale (46.8mm), Preston (43.6 mm) and Stonyhurst, Lancashire (43.8mm) since 1954. While parts of Cleveland, in North Yorkshire received more than their average January rainfall over just 2 days, the 19th and 20th.
The UK is in for a colder spell of weather in the wake of Storm Christoph. Keep up to date with the latest weather warnings and the forecast for your area using our warning and forecast pages on our website. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as using our mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store.
