The UK will be barraged by 48 hours of rain as the hot weather that has characterised July makes way for wet conditions. According to Met Office weather maps, a large band of rainy weather will sweep into the UK from the south west in the early hours of August 3 before making its way across the nation over the following two days.

The agency predicts that hot weather seen for much of the week will start to give way on Friday, with temperatures expected to be much closer to average across most of the UK, and even slightly below average for northern Scotland. By Saturday, this will morph into a chilly start, with dry weather and sunny spells mixed with possible showers in parts. Mark Sidaway is a deputy chief forecaster. He said: “The forecast is showing potential for more rain than much of the UK has experienced over the last few weeks.

“However, it looks as though amounts of rain for many will be fairly modest, and won’t balance out the shortfall that we have recorded this summer. It’s still possible that some areas of the south will miss out and see little or no rainfall.”

Wet conditions will be seen more widely on Sunday as a large band of rain sweeps in from Britain’s south coast.

By the early hours of Monday, around 47 counties and regions could be caught beneath the wet weather, with Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Yorkshire, Cheshire and large parts of Wales among the areas facing a soaking.

The rain will continue pushing north throughout Monday and Tuesday, with Scotland expected to bear the brunt on August 4 and August 5.

While many areas will see steady rainfall, heavier downpours are possible in western and mountainous regions, where several centimetres could fall across the 48 hour period.

Motorists could face spray, poor visibility and waterlogged roads as the working week begins.

A Met Office forecast for Sunday to Tuesday said: “Mostly dry and bright, with showers mainly in the far north Sunday. Rain may affect northern areas Monday and Tuesday, while southern areas stay warmer with sunny spells.

England

Cheshire
Cornwall
County Durham
Cumbria
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
East Riding of Yorkshire
Gloucestershire
Greater Manchester
Herefordshire
Lancashire
Merseyside
Northumberland
North Yorkshire
Nottinghamshire
Shropshire
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Staffordshire
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
West Yorkshire
Worcestershire

Wales

Clwyd
Dyfed
Gwent
Gwynedd
Mid Glamorgan
Powys
South Glamorgan
West Glamorgan

Scotland

Argyll and Bute
Ayrshire
Dumfries and Galloway
Greater Glasgow
Lanarkshire
Renfrewshire
Scottish Borders
West Lothian

Northern Ireland

Antrim
Armagh
Down
Fermanagh
Londonderry
Tyrone