Figures show month of rain fell on county in torrential 11 hours

YORKSHIRE SAW more rainfall in an 11-hour period than it did in the whole of the same month last year, according to Met Office figures.

As storms, high winds and heavy rain hit the region over the weekend, it has also made for the wettest July since 1976 despite weeks of high temperatures and blazing sunshine.

A Met office spokesperson said that on Sunday over 11 hours 27.4mm of rainfall fell across Yorkshire, compared to 20mm for the whole of July last year.

Nationwide, an average 49.9mm of rain fell across the UK from July 1 to July 29, according to provisional figures from the weather experts.

The total for the whole of July 1976, when the UK was in the middle of a blistering heatwave, was 43.3mm.

With further rain forecast this week, the final total for July 2018 could be even higher.

Meanwhile, Saturday was the first day since June 23 that no part of the UK reached temperatures above 25C, the Met Office said. Meteorologist Alex Burkill, inset, said: “It was a welcome change I think. People were hoping, particularly in the SouthEast, for something a bit fresher and that’s what the weekend brought. “But temperatures are going to rise again as we go through this week. I think by Friday we could quite easily be getting temperatures just above the 30s.” The worst of the wet weather was confined to the west of the country yesterday but was set to have headed towards Yorkshire overnight with several outbreaks of thunder and hailstorms predicted. South Yorkshire can expect a wet morning commute today, say forecasters, but the rain is set to clear by noon. Over the next few days high pressure will move in and while tomorrow is set to be cloudy but dry, Thursday and Friday will be sunnier and temperatures could reach 25C. Currently, July this year is the 13th driest on record. The driest ever July was in 1955, when an average of 30.6mm rainfall was measured across the UK.