The Met Office’s yellow rain warning for Northern Ireland on Saturday has been extended until Sunday and now covers parts of Scotland. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has issued 13 flood warnings due to this weekend’s weather and urged people to be prepared and plan necessary travel. Mark Franklin, head of flood duties for SEPA, said: “We are asking people who live and work in affected areas to plan their essential journeys and consider the necessary steps they need to take now to be prepared.” Flood warnings are currently in place across western Scotland, including Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and Arran and the Inner Hebrides, West Central Scotland, including Glasgow, and parts of the Borders. Alex Deakin from the Met Office said: “Low pressure will dominate over the weekend and into next week and, turning around this low pressure, we will see slow moving weather fronts.” Heavy rain has hit much of the UK following the recent dry spell (Getty Images) A yellow weather warning indicates a slight chance of disruption, flooding and travel delays or cancellations. The Republic of Ireland’s Met Office, Met Éireann, has also issued yellow warnings for all parts of Northern Ireland, as well as similar warnings for small sea and sea travel off the West Coast of Ireland. In the UK, the Met Office said heavy rain and thunderstorms were moving across North Yorkshire on Saturday afternoon and into parts of Teesside by the evening. The forecaster warned: “Heavy showers are expected which will lead to difficult travel conditions for a while, with possible hail in places.” Heavy rain and thunderstorms are part of a large area of low pressure that will dominate the weather next week. Jason Kelly, deputy chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “While we are confident that low pressure will dominate the weather next week, the daily forecast is uncertain at this stage. More generally, however, every day there will be a risk of rain or longer rainfall in many areas of the country. “It is possible that the more prolonged rains will also bring the risk of thunderstorms. And in some areas, probably in the south-west, rainfall will increase during the week.”
