ANYONE still hoping to catch some Scottish sunshine over the bank holiday weekend after the last few scorching days needs to get on with it this morning.
They are more likely to need brollies than bikinis this afternoon with forecasters issuing three weather warnings for rain over the next four days.
There’s good news on the green front, however, after the sweltering weather led to a record amount of solar power being generated across Britain.
The first yellow warning for wet weather arrived yesterday afternoon for Northern Ireland, and today the second weather warning predicts heavy rainfall for all of the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Those living in the southern half of the country will not escape the deluge, as the third weather warning, in place for 24 hours from lunchtime on Sunday to 12pm on bank holiday Monday, predicts torrential thundery outbreaks are likely in places, with the possibility of localised flooding.
Exeter-based Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said: “The key thing I would point out is a lot of the rainfall that’s likely to come over the weekend is showers and some may get it and some may not.
“It is variable but where those showers do occur they could be quite intense.”
Claydon said the temperatures would remain high into today, with the warmest places likely to be Aviemore at 27C and London, which could have temperatures of up to 29C.
Meanwhile the south can expect to see morning showers but a brighter afternoon.
“Not everyone will necessarily see them but where you do see them they will be quite intense,” Claydon added.
In Scotland tomorrow will feel much cooler than recent days as temperatures are expected to dip to highs of 18C.
The inclement weather is expected to continue on Monday with cloud, scattered showers and the lowest high temperatures of the weekend are expected to be recorded in London.
For anyone worried that the sun will come out on Tuesday when they have to go back to work, Claydon said it was not going to happen.
Another front is set to move in from the west bringing more cloud and rain.
With temperatures of up to 28C yesterday the National Grid said 8.7 gigawatts (GW) of solar electricty had been generated by lunchtime, representing 24.3 per cent of total generation across the UK.
It beats the previous record of 8.48GW set on May 10.
Duncan Burt, the National Grid’s head of control room operations, said the record-breaking solar generation was the “beginning of a new era”.
“We now have significant volumes of renewable energy on the system,” he said. “We also have the tools available to ensure we can balance supply and demand.”
Another National Grid expert said the record level of solar power was achieved largely because of the clear and sunny weather on Friday. She added that it would have been significantly harder to reach if it had been cloudy.
Britain has been getting more of its energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar, as it seeks to meet European Union targets and phase out coal power plants.
However, environmentalists have criticised the UK Government’s decision to cut subsidies to the solar power industry in 2015.
Hannah Martin, head of energy for Greenpeace in the UK, said: “Today’s new record is a reminder of what the UK could achieve if our government reversed its cuts to support for solar.
“All around the world, solar power keeps beating new records as costs come down and power generation goes up.”
Last month, Britain went a full day without using coal to generate electricity for the first time since the 1880s.
The government wants to close all coal-fired power plants by 2025. Coal accounted for just nine per cent of electricity generation in 2016 – down from 23 per cent the year before.
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