The Met Office has named the 134 areas it expects to see rain on Tuesday as heavy downpours soak millions of Brits.
The UK’s driest July on record is being followed by some much-needed rain in early August, with clouds covering much of the country in the middle part of the week (August 4 and 5).
“Persistent, at times heavy rain will continue in the north, with a risk of hail and thunder across Northern Ireland. Scattered showers elsewhere, mainly in western areas. Very warm and humid conditions persist in the east,” the Met Office forecast, issued at 4am on Tuesday morning, said.
It continued: “Rain is likely to continue across the north, with scattered showers elsewhere. It will be mostly dry across eastern and southeastern England, where another warm night is expected.”
However, Britain’s driest regions are not set to see any rainfall on Tuesday. All of Wales and half of England are now drought zones, with swathes of the country in the ‘prolonged dry weather’ stage before an official drought is declared.
Nearly 20 counties in England recorded effectively no rainfall in July, records show, leading farmers to warn shoppers will see gaps on the shelves later this year unless urgent action is taken to protect the harvest. The lack of rain in East Anglia, East Midlands, and south east England on Tuesday will deepen worry.
In the latest heat spike, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has amber heat health alerts in place for the East Midlands, East of England, South East and London until Wednesday morning.
There are also yellow heat health alerts for the North West, South West, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and The Humber, as the agency warns the latest high temperatures could put extra pressure on the NHS, with more vulnerable people likely to require medical treatment.
Outbreaks of rain and showers are forecast on Tuesday in Northern Ireland, Scotland, western England and Wales – but the Met Office has forecast a dry day for much of the Midlands, the east and south-east of England with warm sunshine and high humidity.
Temperatures are expected to decrease gradually in the second half of the week, and there is some more unsettled weather forecast for parts of the UK including a yellow warning for thunderstorms in Northern Ireland. But the South East will continue to see little in the way of desperately needed rain, the Met Office has warned.
The following council areas will see rain on Tuesday (August 4):
North East: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray
East Central: Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Falkirk, Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling
Lothians: East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian
West Central: East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire
South and South West: Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Scottish Borders
North East: Causeway Coast and Glens, Mid and East Antrim
North West: Derry City and Strabane
South and West: Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Fermanagh and Omagh, Mid Ulster, Newry, Mourne and Down
Mid Wales: Ceredigion, Powys
South West Wales: Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Swansea
South East Wales: Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan
North East: County Durham, Northumberland, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne
Yorkshire and the Humber: North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire (Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield), West Yorkshire (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield)
West Midlands: Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Warwickshire, West Midlands (Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton), Worcestershire
East Midlands: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire
South West: Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Isles of Scilly, North Somerset, Plymouth, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, Torbay, Wiltshire
South East: Hampshire, Isle of Wight