Ian Payne 4am - 7am
Exact date rain will end and temperatures will soar in Hurricane Nigel aftermath
21 September 2023, 11:46
Torrential downpours have hit the UK as the remnants of Hurricane Nigel finally arrive - but temperatures are soon set to soar.
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The remnants of Hurricane Nigel - which is currently in the North Atlantic - are set to hit this weekend, with more heavy rain and gale-force winds on the cards.
But the hurricane will also bring with it some warm air that will increase temperatures early next week.
The mercury is predicted to tip over 21C - "above average" for the time of year.
It comes after the wet weather caused major travel disruption and flooding on Thursday morning, following a yellow weather warning for rain across south-east England.
Read more: Commuter chaos as deluge of heavy rain causes major rail disruption during morning rush hour
What does the weather have in store for the next 10 days? Find out with Aidan McGivern. pic.twitter.com/GpexyLTCQc
— Met Office (@metoffice) September 20, 2023
Met Office forecaster Alex Deakin said: "Ex-hurricane Nigel is currently out in the mid Atlantic, by the weekend it is up to the north west of the UK - lots of isobars so it's going to cause a wet and windy spell. That is ex hurricane Nigel.
"It will go through that transition. It will lose the warm seas because the seas around the UK are not warm enough to support hurricanes, so it will stop being fuelled from below and start being impacted by the jetstream above.
"The storm is expected to bring strong winds and potential spells of rain.
"However, temperatures will increase in the early part of next week with the mercury predicted to tip over 21C - above average for this time of year."
Hurricane #Nigel located in the Atlantic due south of Newfoundland is expected to slowly weaken as it moves north-eastwards in the next few days. pic.twitter.com/Mb6inV7GKI
— Met Office Storms (@metofficestorms) September 20, 2023
He added: "Plenty of wet and windy weather this week but after that the chance of it turning drier and perhaps the change if it turning a little bit warmer.
"You can see, particularly in the south and east quite a high chance that temperatures at lunchtime will be above average - between 40-60% chance, even higher than that across the east.
"Part of that is being driven by Nigel pushing some warm air our way so that will enhance those temperatures by day as well, but quite a strong signal that even as the high pressure builds in through the middle part of next week that we could see some warmth particularly across some parts of England and Wales for temperatures to be quite a bit above average."