Rainfall is set to move across the UK over coming days, although forecasters warn that incoming showers are “not going to solve the drought situation overnight”.
Following a summer of heatwaves and dry weather that left numerous regions facing water shortages, parts of the country will see their “first meaningful rain for a long time” this week, according to the Met Office.
However, weather experts said that the rainfall would not reach a “huge amount” and would remain “highly hit and miss from place to place”, before drier conditions return over the weekend.
Data from the Met Office showed up to 23mm of rain fell in parts of central southern Lancashire during the 12 hours to 6am on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, up to 13mm was recorded across parts of Northern Ireland, with between 6-10mm logged in south-west England.
In an online forecast, Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern described Wednesday as a “very showery day” for the UK.
Northern Ireland, as well as western and central Scotland, would see “frequent showers with heavy downpours, hail and thunder”.
Rainfall in southern areas would be “fewer and further between”, the forecaster added, though downpours could still affect central England and eastern Wales.
He said: “I suspect many people across England and Wales will at least enjoy the feel of some rain falling out of the sky during the next few days, but it’s not going to solve the drought situation overnight because we’re not expecting huge amounts and it will be highly variable because a lot of it will come in the form of showers.”
On Wednesday, highs of 25C in London, 20C in Cardiff, 19C in Manchester and 16C in Glasgow are expected, according to the weather service.
Thursday will begin with some “very heavy rain” across parts of northern England and north and west Wales with frequent showers in the southwest, Mr McGivern said.
That afternoon will bring a “better chance” of showers further south and “dumping a reasonable amount of rain in places”, he added.
“But again, because they’re showers, it will be hit and miss, very speckled in nature,” he said.
Temperatures will be below average for a large part of the UK on Thursday, which is “something we’ve seen on only a handful of days this summer,” the forecaster continued.
A hosepipe ban for all of Wessex Water’s 1.4 million customers, across areas in Bath, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, began on Tuesday.
It is the first ban the company has put in place for 50 years, since the summer of 1976.
Meanwhile, Thames Water has urged its customers to continue to reduce water usage as it said household demand has fallen by 3 per cent across London and more than 6 per cent across the Thames Valley and home counties since it introduced a hosepipe ban on July 23.
In an update on Tuesday, the utility said London reservoir storage was at 74 per cent, which is lower than the firm would expect for this time of year.
However, the Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire was 92 per cent full.
According to the company, rainfall in the Thames catchment area during July was less than 1mm, which is just 2 per cent of the long-term average.
Meanwhile, customers used about 100 million litres more water every day than normal, putting more pressure on rivers, reservoirs and the water network.
More than 27 million people across England have now had hosepipe use restricted in their area after months of hot and dry weather.
The cooler and wetter conditions come after the UK’s fifth heatwave of the summer, during which the hottest day of the year was recorded in Kew Gardens, London, on Thursday when the temperature reached 38.1C.
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