- Warnings in place for central parts of England and south east Scotland
- Heavy showers, flash flooding and huge hailstones expected today
- Country will mostly be dry tomorrow with temperatures in the mid-teens
- East-west split expected on Thursday and Friday
- Scotland has seen heavy rainfall this afternoon, at times reaching 50mm/hr
- Top temperatures in the country was seen in Glasgow where it hit 22C
By James Rush
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The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for south east Scotland and higher ground through central parts of England, where heavy rain is expected to fall today
It might have been reasonable to believe spring was finally here with some of the temperatures the country has been enjoying recently.
But parts of the country have had to brace themselves today after forecasters predicted heavy showers, flash flooding and huge hailstones.
Heavy rainfall started in parts of Scotland this afternoon, according to the Meteogroup, at times reaching a rate of 50mm of rainfall an hour in areas around Dundee. The showers were moving in a south easterly direction.
Forecasters have said the unstable weather was because of the warm humid air in Scotland - Glasgow has so far seen the highest temperature in Britain after the mercury hit 22C earlier today.
Meteogroup forecaster Claire Austin said: 'It only really kicked off in the last couple of hours.
'At 2pm we started seeing some of the showers developing and they have started getting properly heavier from about 3pm.'
The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for south east Scotland and across the higher ground through the central part of England, where heavy rain was expected to fall today.
There has been some good news however, as sunshine is expected for most of the country during parts of the upcoming week, while temperatures were also expected to hit 19C elsewhere today.
Helen Chivers, forecaster for the Met Office, said: 'We are expecting some very heavy showers to break out through this afternoon, mostly up the spine of the Pennines, so the higher ground in the central parts of the country, and particularly in south east Scotland.
'We have actually got severe weather warnings out for both of those areas.
'There's an amber warning out for the Scottish regions, where we are expecting the heaviest of the weather to be.
'We could find some flash flooding in areas and large hail stones which could make travelling conditions very difficult.'
Ms Chivers said between 20 and 30ml of rain could fall in the space of one hour. She said hail was most likely to fall in Scotland while thunderstorms and heavy winds were likely to hit central parts of England.
The showers will dry up this evening, meaning most of the country will be dry going into tomorrow. Ms Chivers said: 'Tomorrow is a bit of a cloudy start but the clouds will break up.
While showers are expected in parts of the country today, sunshine could break out later on in the week
Heavy rain has fallen across parts of Scotland including Dundee this afternoon, at times reaching a rate of up to 5mm/hour
'We can expect a few showers to break out in the afternooon, not as many as today, and once again I think they will be over high ground.
'But for most of us it should be a fine day after a rather cloudy start and we should get temperatures in the mid-teens.'
And while Wednesday should not be too bad either, there is the possibility of one or two showers. Ms Chivers said there was also a possibility of some mountain snow over the Scottish highlands.
She said: 'But again, Wednesday looks like being a bright day with some sunshine breaking through.
'On Thursday and Friday we get a bit of an east-west split. The eastern side is going to be cloudy with some rain around, but for the western side of the country it looks fine and dry with some sunshine.'
A pair of parent swans have been keeping it in the family meanwhile, by teaching their recently hatched cygnets to uphold an ancient British tradition.
A pair of parent swans keep it in the family be teaching their recently hatched cygnets to uphold an ancient British tradition
The birds at the Bishops Palace in Wells, Somerset, were teaching their brood how to ring a bell for food
Swans have been synonymous with Wells for centuries where resident swans patrol the stunning 13th century Bishop's Palace
The birds at the Bishops Palace in Wells, Somerset, have been teaching their brood how to ring a bell for food - something that has become a popular spectacle there for over a century.
Swans have been synonymous with Wells for centuries where resident swans patrol the stunning 13th century Bishop's Palace which has been home to the Bishop of Bath and Wells for more than 800 years.
The swans of Wells have the unusual habit of ringing a bell by the Palace drawbridge to ask for food.
The unusual spectacle started 200 years ago when the daughter of an 19th century Bishop taught her favourite swan to ring the gatehouse bell for scraps of food - a technique that has been passed down the swan generations.
Downpours at only 19C? Makes you wonder if we'll ever see dry weather when it's warm. Fingers crossed the rotten weather has been saving up to be replaced by a good summer but I won't hold my breath.
- Doug , Edinburgh, 20/5/2013 18:50
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