Britain was lashed with more rain yesterday as wet weather swept in from the Atlantic.
Saturday gave a brief respite after Friday supplied a month’s worth of rain in a single day but few parts of Britain escaped the downpours today.
John Lee, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said that by 7am parts of Devon and Cornwall, north and south Wales and Northern Ireland were under persistent rain.
Many areas received up to an inch of rain yesterday. The heaviest hourly rainfall recorded in the morning was from 7am to 8am at Cardinham, Cornwall, where there was nearly half an inch (10.6mm).
Norwich received 48mm (1.89 inches) in the 24 hours to mid-morning on Saturday, while the average rainfall for the whole month of July in some East Anglian locations is only 52mm.
A few weeks ago there was the hottest July day on record with 36.7°C
Temperatures reached 20C on Saturday but were down a couple of degrees to 18C, below average for July, yesterday.
The mercury is expected to rise a few degrees today, but there may still be some rain around and it will stay cool and unsettled in the coming days, with no obvious sign of any return to the hot conditions which prevailed a few weeks ago and produced the hottest July day on record, on July 1. There was then a maximum recorded temperature of 36.7C which brought about melting of roads and rail service cancellations.
Bookmaker Coral said it had cut the odds on July being the wettest on record to 2-1 (from 6-1) following reports that more rain is forecast for the rest of the month. The firm has taken a flurry of bets on this July breaking any previous figure, while also seeing support for 2015 being the wettest year on record, which is now available at 5-2 (from 4-1).
A woman shelters under her umbrella on a rainy day in London, yesterday. Photo: Reuters“We’ve seen money come flooding in all week for July being the wettest on record as punters have obviously been keeping a close eye on weather forecasts which all suggest we are set for more rain at the back end of the month,” said Coral’s John Hill.
“At the start of this summer, we saw a lot of money for this year being the hottest since history books began. However, all the bets coming in now are for 2015 being the wettest on record,” he added. Ladbrokes said it had suspended all bets on July 2015 entering the wet weather record books. The odds of 2015 being the soggiest year of all time were also down to 7/4, having been 10/1 before the downpours.
Spokesman Alex Donohue said: “When it comes to this July being a total washout all bets are off. The latest deluge also now means 2015 looks set to enter the rainfall record books too.” Lee of MeteoGroup said: “July was dry before this recent rainfall so I’m confident it won’t be the wettest July on record.”