When will the rain stop?

Following three successive heatwaves across the UK this summer, the last few days have seen heavy rain and showers return widely and a raft of weather warnings, including two amber ones.

Killowen and Murlough in Northern Ireland have had their wettest July day on record with 69mm and 61mm of rain respectively.

More than a month's worth of rain has fallen in parts of eastern Scotland and south-eastern England over the last three days.

With several flood alerts in place, when will the rain stop?

The week began with intense downpours seen widely across the country. As well as some rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning, funnel clouds and a possible tornado were spotted over parts of Yorkshire.

Persistent rain also brought flooding to some areas of Northern Ireland and north-west Scotland.

While a heavier shower, with a low chance of thunder is possible on Tuesday in some eastern parts of Scotland and England, the rain today will tend to be lighter and patchier. This is linked to a weak weather front crossing eastwards across the country.

Wednesday and Thursday will be much drier days for western areas of the UK as a ridge of high pressure moves in. Showers are expected to form in eastern areas of both Scotland and England. These will be a bit more hit and miss in nature, so there will be quite a few areas that dodge the downpours.

On Friday, the highest chance of catching a shower will be in west Scotland and Northern Ireland, these probably quite short-lived. England and Wales should have a mostly dry day with some sunshine.

Throughout the week, between any showers there will be some warm July sunshine with temperatures often reaching the low 20Cs. It will get warmer in eastern England on Friday with temperatures reaching about 26C (79F).

Next week several areas of low pressure are likely to develop and run across or close to Scotland. These will bring spells of rain and showers, especially to northern areas. It will also be quite windy at times.

The weather will tend to be drier towards the south-east of England with only small amounts of rain.

There are some signs that high pressure may build from the west during early August bringing some drier, sunnier and warmer weather, but forecasting this far ahead is rarely straight forward and could well change.

Read the latest Monthly Outlook here.