Yellow warning issued for heavy rain

The Met Office have issued a Yellow Warning for heavy rain and the risk of localised flooding across South West England. It comes after a day of punchy showers, but it's tonight's forecast heavy rain that has triggered the warning. Between 20 - 40mm could fall over several hours bringing the risk of some localised flooding to parts of the West Country. The band of heavy rain will push in from the southwest at around 8pm and be with us for a good part of the night.

The recent change to unsettled weather has been triggered by the movement and shape of the Jet Stream. During July it sat comfortably in the north allowing warm air from Southern Europe to flow freely up through the British Isles. It also blocked most weather fronts from approaching and weakened the ones the did get through its barrier.

A change in month brought a change in the weather and since last Friday the Jet Stream has slipped all the way south of the British Isles allowing areas of low pressure and frontal systems a much easier crossing.

The reduced heat and humidity may disappoint some, but there are many that have welcomed the cool and wet spells of weather in the last few days. The gardens for one will lap up tonight's rain.