Met Office weather map shows exact time heavy rain could hit Manchester

Greater Manchester could be hit with some heavy rainfall tonight (August 2).

On Thursday, heavy showers and thunderstorms battered parts of the central and southern England.

Almost a month’s worth of rain fell in an hour in Greater London on Thursday night, according to the Met Office. A flood alert has been issued today for Rivers Eden and Eden Brook in the south east of England, and Upper River Loddon in the south west.

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Meanwhile the north west of the UK seemed to miss the worst of the wet weather enjoying another pleasant summer evening with temperatures in the mid-20s. But tonight that looks set to change with a band of heavy rain moving across the region.

Up to 16mm of rainfall an hour is forecast to hit some parts of Greater Manchester on Friday night.

The latest Met Office weather maps show a band of rain moving in from the west coast, hitting the north west from around 8pm.

Heavy rain will hit Wigan, Bolton, Rochdale and Manchester by around 9pm before dissipating as the evening goes on.

Over the weekend, an area of low pressure from the north will bring changeable conditions to the UK bringing cooler temperatures, marking the end of the current mini heatwave.

England and Wales will be largely dry with sunny spells, with highs of 25C in southern England on Saturday and Sunday, and lows of 20C further north.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said: "What’s replacing the previous weather regime is a transition back to more changeable conditions for the UK, albeit still retaining some level of sunshine at times."

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