MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Storm Jonas heading for UK across the Atlantic, with forecasts of torrential rain

The UK Met Office has issued a severe weather warning covering most of Wales, north-west England and west Scotland.

The storm that battered America is on its way to Britain, forecasters have warned. But instead of dumping loads of snow, it’s going to bring severe rainfall across large parts of the country. It is expected that the ‘remnants’ of Storm Jonas will hit the UK on Tuesday, with torrential rain and heavy winds on their way.

 The UK Met Office has issued a severe weather warning covering most of Wales, north-west England and west Scotland.

A spokesman said: ‘There will be several low pressure systems which will work their way across the UK. We are in for some heavy rain and strong winds“.

The amounts of rainfall could be pretty high, there is potential for 50 to 100mm, which is four inches.

‘Across northwest England and Scotland there could be upwards of 150mm, almost rivalling what we saw in December. ‘These are quite wet areas and they are susceptible to flooding.’

It’s bad news for Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire, which were some of the worst affected by Storm Desmond, which ruined thousands of homes and businesses.

Met Office said the warning could be extended to south-west and south-east England.

The UK Environment Agency said it is monitoring river levels and has warned residents to ‘be prepared for the possibility of flooding’.

A spokesman said: ‘We will monitor rainfall closely and urge communities to be vigilant.

‘With heavy rainfall predicted in those areas there is obviously a risk of flooding.

‘We will have crews out in the next couple of days and if the river levels rise then we could issue warnings”.