Brits are set to be lashed by a mid-week washout as torrential downpours and strong winds batter the country.
Forecasters have predicted stormy weather from Wednesday and there are warnings of flooding and disruption to travel going up to the weekend.
The Met Office predicts that today will see widespread rain in some parts of England and Wales while Scotland and the north will see brighter weather.
By the evening the spell of wet weather will move to the south east and experts predict the temperature will plunge and be colder than in recent days.
Showery conditions will continue into Thursday and there are warnings of a washout weekend, while snow could fall by late Friday in parts of Scotland.
The Met Office earlier warned that strong winds and showery conditions could see thunderstorms in parts of the north by the early weekend.
There are flood alerts currently in place for the Tidal River Avon at Bristol, Pill and Shirehampton and at Upper River Derwent, Stonethwaite Beck and Derwent Water.
Clare Nasir at the Met Office said the weather would get more unsettled as the week goes on.
Speaking in the Met Office Week Ahead forecast, Meteorologist and Presenter Aidan McGivern said: “There will be outbreaks of rain, heavy at times, for western Scotland and Northern Ireland pushing into northern and western England as well as Wales. The rain tends to fizzle into showers further south and it’ll stay largely dry in the southeast through Wednesday with some sunny spells.”
After a drier interlude for many areas on Wednesday night and Thursday, developing low-pressure to the west informs the forecast for the rest of the week.
Aidan continued: “Two areas of low-pressure and an active jet stream is waiting in the wings. With all these different features interacting with each other there will be some uncertainty in terms of the details for later this week.
“The overall theme of the forecast is pretty evident, with low pressure towards the northwest of the UK at the end of this week with some wet and windy weather and quite a number of showers.”
Friday is expected to be windy, with the highest gusts most likely in exposed coastal areas in the north.
Aidan concluded: “It’ll be a blustery day for all on Friday and even though there’s some uncertainties about the position of the low pressure, what’s most likely is low-pressure to the north, a brisk westerly airflow and a number of showers.”
Towards the weekend snow flurries are expected in some parts of the north, and maps from WXCharts show snowflakes will fall across parts of Scotland next week in an area between Fort William and further north towards Inverness come early next Saturday morning.
UK Weather forecast
Today:
Early cloud and rain in the north and west moving eastwards to become confined to parts of England and Wales by late afternoon. Brighter weather following into Scotland and Northern Ireland later. Southeastern UK staying dry. Windy at first.
Tonight:
Evening rain over parts of England and Wales continuing eastwards to be confined to parts of southeast England by dawn. Otherwise dry with clear spells and colder than last night.
Thursday:
Changeable for Scotland and Northern Ireland with some bright spells but also some showery rain. Cloud and rain also affecting the far south of England. Otherwise fine and dry.
Outlook for Friday to Sunday:
Continuing unsettled with sunshine and blustery showers, and even some longer spells of rain at times. Heaviest rain in the west, and feeling cool in the north.
