UK weather: Inch of rain to fall in an hour today

Torrential downpours are set to bring flash floods to the UK throughout Monday as weather forecasters predict up to an inch and a half of rain could fall in parts of the country.

The Weather Channel says: "Low pressure over northern Britain will bring widespread showers this afternoon. Many showers will become heavy and slow-moving with a risk of thunder from south-west Scotland to central and eastern England.

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"The slow-moving nature of any thunderstorms that do develop will give a threat of flash-flooding locally. The showers will be more scattered over the south-west of England, and north-east Scotland will escape dry with sunny spells."

For the evening, some heavy showers and a few thunderstorms are expected over central to eastern England, and north-west England to south-west Scotland.

According to Weather Channel forecasters, these will gradually die down and become drier with clearer spells over central to south-east England.

However, further showers are likely for western England and Wales overnight, with more general rain over Northern Ireland.

Met Office forecaster Tom Crocker told the Daily Mirror: "We are going to keep with a very messy picture over the next few days.

"We are expecting frequent spells of rain which could be heavy and thundery with hail at times."

He added: "Monday is showing the potential for similar rainfall totals to Sunday [40mm] but we are playing this by ear due to the complex set up."

Meanwhile, a yellow warning of rain has been issued by the Met Office for London and the South East.

The Met Office says: "Low cloud will slowly break allowing temperatures to rise, triggering some heavy and slow-moving downpours. 15-25 mm could fall within an hour in scattered locations, bringing the risk of flooding, especially if across urban areas."

The public has been warned of possible localised flooding and disruption to travel on Monday.

Following "cyclonic patterns", the rest of the week is expected to be brighter with sunny conditions returning.

Visit weather.aol.co.uk for your local forecast.