UK weather: Torrential rain and floods to batter Britain on Halloween before SNOW to hit in just two weeks

TORRENTIAL rain and floods are set to batter Britain today as revellers celebrate a spooky Halloween – before snow hits the country in just two weeks.

The Met Office said strong 50mph gusts coming in from the west will bring a “wild start” to Sunday for many parts of the UK.

The flood and rain warnings risk causing chaos on roads with fears businesses and homes could be flooded – and further wet weather is on the way.

Yellow weather warnings for rain remain in place in several parts of the country, including in Glasgow, where the global Cop26 climate summit is due to begin today.

Met Office meteorologist Steven Keats said conditions would start “going downhill” in the west throughout Sunday.

He explained: “Further West heavy rain will be picking up and there’ll be some heavy rain coming in from the Atlantic.

“Heavy rain will push across into…western parts of England and Wales and be accompanied by some pretty strong and gusty winds.”

Mr Keats added parts of Wales and southern England could see winds of around 40 or 50 miles an hour which could “potentially cause problems.”

According to weather charts, up to 21cm (8 inches) of snow could blanket parts of Northern Scotland between November 13 and November 14.

It comes with fears two were killed as they went paddleboarding in Wales after the river suddenly started to swell.

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Multiple flood warnings were issued on Saturday and some areas received more than a month’s worth of rain in 48 hours.

Mr Keats said that declining temperatures throughout next week would bring a “seasonal” feel and that weather would remain “unsettled,” though risks of “hefty downpours” remained.

He said: “The most disruptive potential from the weather will be in the next 24 to 36 hours.”

Met Office forecaster Annie Shuttleworth said the current weather is fairly typical for autumn, although heavy downpours have been happening regularly.

The meteorologist added that despite a week of above-average temperatures for October, conditions would drop into the low single digits in the coming days.

Forecasters have revealed that conditions have been extreme, even factoring in the usual autumnal rain.

Chief meteorologist Andy Page said the downpours have been caused by a series of factors, including strong south-westerly winds, a “conveyor belt” of warm air and a slow-moving weather front.

“The rainfall continues to present a threat of flooding and transport disruption, with difficult driving conditions and possible road closures,” he said.

Aidan McGivern of the Met Office warned the rainfall is unusually severe.

“These are exceptional rainfall totals for even the wettest part of the UK, which is Cumbria on average, and for the wettest part of the year,” he said.

Ben Lukey, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, warned families on autumn breaks to take particular care on unfamiliar roads.

“We are urging residents and visitors, especially holidaymakers in the Lake District, to stay alert and check their flood risk,” he said.

Mr Lukey’s colleague Andy Brown said the situation in some areas may have been devastating if it weren’t for flood defences.

He told BBC Radio Cumbria: “Those defences can’t protect us 100 per cent of the time and many people sadly in Cumbria well know, whether you be in Keswick or Carlisle or a number of other places, there will come a point when those defences will be over-topped.

“I’m very grateful today that many thousands of properties avoided being flooded because of those magnificent flood defences.”

People across the nation are advised to bunker down if at all possible this week.

Meteorologist Luke Miall said: “Autumn is very much with us across the UK through this week, turning a lot more unsettled over the next few days.

“We could see a large amount of rain building up with a risk of flooding and some pretty tricky travelling conditions.

“Highs of 18C though, very, very mild for this stage of the year. Quite strong winds as well, so we will continue to see some quite disruptive rainfall at times.”