Storm Antoni to hit East of England with heavy rain and wind this weekend

People cycle through Cambridge, as heavy rain and thunderstorms hit parts of Britain on aug 14, 2019
The Met Office has named the first storm of the year. Credit: PA

Heavy rain and windy conditions are expected during the busy summer weekend, as Storm Antoni makes its way to the UK.

Storm Antoni has been named by the Met Office in the last few hours.

There are no weather warnings across the East of England, but it will still be unseasonably wet with strong winds, as Antoni pulls away to the south.

We are in the season for holidaying and many people will either be already enjoying their holidays or expecting to travel. 

The strongest of the winds are expected to be to the southwest of England as well as Wales and the Met Office has issued separate weather warnings for these. 

The Met Office has issued yellow wind and rain warnings for parts of the UK. Credit: Met Office

Saturday

If you happen to be starting your travelling on Saturday, 5 August, or pitching a tent it could prove quite difficult. There are plenty of outdoor events too and heavy rain will be the key feature of the day. 

There will be a brief dry window of weather through the morning before the rain starts to arrive.

It's worth remembering if you are driving west out of the region, you are driving into heavier rain and stronger winds.

The heaviest of the rain will be from about 9am in the morning to about 4pm.

The rain will start to break up from 4pm and the winds will strengthen at the same time. The winds will ease during the late evening.

Sunday

The rest of the weekend is looking more settled.

Sunday will be a quieter day with sunny spells. There will be some showers around but it will feel similar to the weather we have had all week.

Next week

We are expecting a warming trend from Tuesday and as it stands, the second half of August is looking more settled with some consecutive dry days of weather.

Storm Antoni is the first storm named by the Met Office during the 2022/23 season, which ends in September. 

This is the third August storm to be named since the era of storm naming began in 2015-2016.

Antoni is our 50th named storm since 2015 and only the fifth to happen over the summer months.

The Met Office is a part of the northern Storm Centre for Europe and during the 2022/23 storm season, other members have named low pressure centres that came close to or crossed the UK but those were expected to have little impact here.

Storm Antoni is only the fifth to happen over the summer months. Credit: ITV News Anglia

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