{"id":995833,"date":"2026-05-31T06:21:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/995833\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T06:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:21:28","slug":"after-35c-may-record-atlantic-fronts-bring-53mm-to-scotland-and-46-9mm-to-belfast-flood-alerts-issued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/995833\/","title":{"rendered":"After 35\u00b0C May record, Atlantic fronts bring 53mm to Scotland and 46.9mm to Belfast\u2013 Flood alerts issued"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The heatwave that brought the hottest May day on record is officially over. Atlantic fronts are sweeping across the UK, bringing heavy rain, cooler air, and flood alerts. Just how wet will your week be?<\/p>\n

\"Felipe Felipe Tornquist<\/a> 31\/05\/2026 07:01 5 min <\/p>\n

After last week’s 35\u00b0C heat, the weather has flipped. A deep Atlantic low-pressure system now dominates the British Isles, bringing widespread rain and a return to classic British conditions.<\/p>\n

The accumulated rain video \u2013 tracking from Saturday to Tuesday \u2013 shows the storm’s front-end impact.<\/p>\n

The north-south split returns<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Sunday afternoon, the temperature map shows a clear split. The south east, East Anglia, London, the West Midlands, and the east coast of York are still holding onto yellow shades \u2013 the last of the warmer air.<\/p>\n

But look at how the green dominates the rest of the country. Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds sit around 20\u00b0C, while Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the north of England are in mid-teens \u2013 a fresh, cool feel compared to last week.<\/p>\n

Rain-wise, Sunday is a messy transition day. A heavy, localised patch of rain sits over Northern England and the Scottish Borders early on. By afternoon, most of England and Wales clear out \u2013 but Northeast Scotland gets stuck under a stubborn 4.0 mm swirl.<\/p>\n

\"SundaySunday afternoon shows yellow in the south east and West Midlands, but green across the rest of the UK.The Atlantic front arrives and wraps around<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Monday morning, a powerful Atlantic front makes landfall. Dublin sees 2.8 mm, Belfast 1.4 mm, as rain pushes into western Britain (see map below).<\/p>\n

On Monday afternoon, the front intensifies over Wales. By evening, rain covers nearly all of Great Britain. The low keeps heavy rain pinned over Scotland and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"MondayMonday morning shows the Atlantic front making landfall \u2013 heavy rain covering Ireland and pushing into western Britain.<\/p>\n

Tuesday brings the pivot.<\/strong> A mature 1000 hPa low parks off northeast Scotland. London peaks at just 21\u00b0C, while England and Wales sit between 16\u00b0C and 18\u00b0C. Scotland turns autumnal \u2013 Inverness at 15\u00b0C, Aberdeen at 16\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

The accumulated rain story \u2013 where the rain fell, and when<\/strong><\/p>\n

Comparing Monday night totals (Tuesday 01:00 in video) with the final Tuesday evening map below reveals how the storm evolved.<\/p>\n

\"FinalFinal totals show Northern Ireland and Scotland as the most affected areas in a classic pivoting storm<\/p>\n

Southwest Scotland and the Borders took the heaviest hit \u2013 53 mm \u2013 but the heaviest downpours passed while people slept. Tuesday daytime brings a clearing trend there.<\/p>\n

Belfast and Dublin get no break. Belfast climbs to 46.5 mm by Tuesday evening \u2013 an additional 15.5 mm falling during Tuesday daytime. Dublin finishes at 37.1 mm. A relentless soak across Ireland.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Glasgow sees 28.8 mm, Aberdeen 27.9 mm, Dundee 26.0 mm, and Manchester 23.6 mm. Norwich finishes at 14.9 mm, Newcastle at 14.4 mm, and London at just 13.9 mm. The southeast largely escaped the worst of the daytime rain.<\/p>\n

With these totals \u2013 particularly Belfast and Dublin \u2013 the Environment Agency has issued flood alerts for parts of Norfolk, where high water levels are expected on Monday evening. Surface water flooding is also possible across parts of England on Sunday, so keep an eye on travel updates if you are in the affected areas.<\/p>\n

Time to welcome back the British wet weather. After that record-breaking heatwave, the Atlantic fronts have settled in \u2013 and the rain is coming. Not quite winter in Game of Thrones, but after 35\u00b0C, it might feel that way.<\/p>\n

Keep an umbrella handy \u2013 especially in Belfast and Dublin, where it never stops. Southwest Scotland can breathe easy \u2013 the heaviest rain came overnight. London, Norwich and Newcastle? Only around 14mm \u2013 a much drier day.<\/p>\n

Keep updated with our forecasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The heatwave that brought the hottest May day on record is officially over. Atlantic fronts are sweeping across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":995834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[225197,748,276360,101149,4884,17937,1144,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-995833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-ukweather","tag-britain","tag-dropping-temperatures","tag-flood-alerts","tag-great-britain","tag-heavy-rain","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116667750710472635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=995833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/995834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=995833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=995833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}