Met Office rain warning this weekend as huge parts of UK under yellow alert

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the weekend.

Two yellow rain warnings are in place for western Wales, eastern Northern Ireland, northern England and southern parts of Scotland. The first warning for County Antrim and County Down in eastern Northern Ireland will be in place from between 12pm on Saturday and will end at 3am on Sunday, according to forecasters.

It warnedthere will be a "small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded" with a slight chance of delays and cancellations. Between 20 to 40mm in most areas with some locations seeing between 60 to 80mm.

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Meanwhile the second yellow rain warning will be in place in southern Scotland, northern England and western Wales from between 9am on Saturday and 6am on Sunday. The Met Office said "there is a slight chance of power cuts."

"Through this period 20-40 mm of rain is expected to fall widely, with some locations perhaps seeing 75-100 mm, with much of this total falling in the later hours of the event," the Met Office said. "From mid-Saturday onwards, increasingly strong gusty winds and perhaps some thunder will also accompany the rainfall, further increasing the risk of disruption."

Met Office forecasters added weather will remain unsettled into the weekend with heavy and thundery showers expected on Saturday. It will turn cooler from Sunday with further heavy rain spreading southwards on Monday.

Into next week, a northwest-southeast split looks more likely, according to the Met Office. It added in its long range forecast for September 22 to October 1: "he best of drier spells will be in the north and northwest where some fog and frost patches are possible, but there will be spells or rain or showers in south and eastern areas, near to an area of low pressure.

"It will also turn colder, as a northerly flow becomes established for a time. Later in the week, more widely drier and settled conditions could develop as high pressure becomes more influential, although probably still with some coastal showers. Temperatures should gradually return closer to average in this period. Later in the period there may be a return to a more changeable pattern but this is uncertain."