Hurricane Nigel to bring ‘increased’ rainfall and winds across the UK on Sunday

Remnants of Hurricane Nigel will sweep across the UK from the Atlantic later this week to bring more heavy rain in the wake of Hurricane Lee, forecasters have warned.

The tail end of Hurricane Lee has prompted fresh flood warnings in parts of northern England and Wales on Tuesday and Wednesday before it subsides and is replaced by “unsettled weather” from Hurricane Nigel at the weekend.

Grahame Madge, Met Office spokesperson, said: “On Sunday, we will start to see the influence of ex-tropical Hurricane Nigel, which will be offshore in the mid-Atlantic.

“These systems have a long reach, it will increase rainfall rates and also winds to bring unsettled weather to the UK.”

The Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for rain from Tuesday until 6pm on Wednesday, adding some homes and businesses could face flooding though it is not anticipated to be “widespread”.

Bus and train services will “probably” be affected by longer journey times, a forecaster added.

Western regions are expected to see between 50mm to 100mm of rainfall, with higher altitude areas such as Snowdonia in Wales potentially seeing up to 200mm.

Mr Madge said: “Although we’ve indicated that there could be flooding associated with the reasonably high levels of rainfall, that’s not something anticipated to be widespread.

“It’s something that may be a consequence of a catchment that suddenly gets more inundated or there are blockages in drainage.”

The showers can be linked to remnants of Hurricane Lee which brought over “moisture” and “higher temperature air” to the UK.

“It’s fair to say that it (Hurricane Lee) has brought more moisture with it, and also higher temperature air,” Mr Magde explained.

“When this air comes across us (the UK) it will deliver more in the way of rainfall than a normal system.”

The yellow warning is not to be compared to the “intense amounts” of rainfall seen over the weekend, when more than 10,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the UK and downpours forced a Butlin’s holiday resort in Minehead, Somerset, and Exeter Airport to close temporarily.

Heavy showers and thunderstorms may hit parts of the UK on Thursday and Friday but the Met Office said they are not expected to be as severe as those on Sunday.