Met Office Chief Meteorologist Frank Saunders said: “This week has been fairly unsettled and we’ll see this typical autumnal weather continuing over the weekend, with heavy rain and strong winds expected to bring disruption and risk of flooding to some areas.

“Several yellow rain warnings are in place from today (Thursday) until Sunday, covering parts of northwest England, Wales and western parts of Scotland.  Across the warning areas rainfall totals of 30-40mm can be expected quite widely by the end of Friday, whilst over the hills and mountains of north Wales and Cumbria, where rain will be heaviest, more than 100mm is possible.”

Over the weekend two separate Atlantic low-pressure systems will track to the north-west of the UK, bringing further heavy and persistent rain as well as strengthening south-westerly winds.

Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Martin Young, said: “Saturday will be very wet and windy for many northern and western parts of the country as low-pressure sweeps northeastwards past northwest Britain.  Another system quickly follows on Sunday that contains the remnants of ex-Hurricane Zeta, bringing further heavy rain and strong winds.

“Given that this is falling on already saturated ground from what has been a wet October, there is an increased risk of flooding in some warnings areas.

Martin continued: “We will continue to monitor the situation over the weekend and may update the rain warnings, and possibly add wind warnings, as details in the timing and potential impacts become clearer.  Therefore we’re urging people to keep a close eye on the forecast, flood alerts and warnings in their areas."

Gary White, Duty Tactical Manager for Natural Resources Wales said:

“The predicted heavy rain is likely to cause flooding up and down the country over the next few days and in to the weekend, so we’re advising people to keep up to date with flood warnings and alerts issued in their areas.

“Our emergency response workers will be at key sites checking defences are in good working order and making sure any drainage grids and screens are clear to reduce the risk to people and their homes."

You can check the risk of flood and alerts in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales  and England.

You can check the latest weather warnings on our severe weather warnings pages and you can get the most accurate and up to date forecast for your area using our forecast pages and by following us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as using our mobile app which is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from the Google Play store. Whatever the weather we are all being urged to remember the Government Coronavirus guidelines.