Bristol weather: Heavy rainfall, tidal surges and high winds set to hit this weekend By The Bristol Post | Posted: January 31, 2014 Avon Crescent January 2014 The flooding in Avon Crescent earlier this month Comments (0) MORE heavy rain, strong winds and high tides look set batter the already saturated Bristol area. The Met Office has put wind and rain warnings in place for the weekend while the Environment Agency has issued separate flood alerts for swelling rivers and high spring tides. Bristol City Council has warned the tidal surge on Saturday morning may be as severe as earlier this month and confirmed it will be deploying its defences for a second time. The warnings come after the wettest January on record for parts of the region. Some parts of the Bristol area have experienced more than double the average rainfall and just eight dry days in the two months. The Met Office has said it expects this winter to be the wettest since records began in 1910 for parts of the South of England. And the misery shows no signs of letting up with two separate weather fronts moving in across the Atlantic heading our way over the next few days. Nicky Maxey, spokeswoman from the Met Office, said the weekends torrid weather would exacerbate further the problems we are already seeing. The office predicts heavy rain will reach Bristol, heading from west to east, on Friday at around midday. A yellow (be aware) rain warning will be in place from 8am to 3pm on Saturday as the front continues to sweep its way across the area. Cold temperatures on Saturday morning could even see a chance of wintry showers, according to forecasts, but the snow or sleet is unlikely to settle on the wet ground. More rain is also forecasted to hit the area on Monday afternoon, with an unsettled outlook for the week ahead. Alongside the rain, the Met Office has also issued a yellow wind warning from Saturday at 6am to Sunday at 6am, with gusts of 50 to 60mph expected. Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has given an amber warning (be prepared) for the Bristol area on Saturday as rivers are expected to swell at the same time as a high tide is predicted on Saturday morning. The previous spring tides, at the beginning of the month, saw the Cumberland Basin submerged and tidal water spilling over into the Floating Harbour. The citys flood defences were deployed to protect a number of low-lying homes. Bristol City Council said it expects the tidal surge from the high tides to be as bad as last time and it would be deploying its flood defences across Avon Crescent and Underfall Yard from 2pm today (FRIDAY). High tide is expected to peak on Saturday at 8.07am 30cm higher than on January 3. The council were due to announce details of road closures this morning. The Met Office says January has been the wettest on record for much of the South of England, including the Bristol area. In Bristol 94.6mm of rain fell in total in Bristol. In January 137.8mm of rain fell in the city. Average rainfall in neighbouring counties for January is around 75mm. In Gloucestershire 159mm of rain fell over the month - a 202 per cent increase on the average. In Somerset, 177ml fell - a 179 per cent increase. In December both counties saw an increase on average rainfall of about 150 per cent. The Met Office recorded just eight days without rainfall across both areas in the two months. Read more: bristolpost.co.uk/BATTEN-HATCHES-RAIN/story-20535977-detail/story.html#ixzz2rxja0zfM
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 08:23:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015