Storm Warning

Met Office Amber Weather Warning 27-28 July 2021

Post in The Garve & District Development Company by Megan Urquhart
Important information for our community from the Highland Council - keep up to date with these regular community briefings.

We have a further update for community resilience groups today following a warning from the Met Office about possible flooding impacts over the coming days, and a related Council Press Release attached. Council teams are closely monitoring the forecast and all warnings issued and are as prepared as they can be. If there are any impacts, staff are ready to help those most at risk, including vulnerable members of the community but we need householders and businesses to remain alert and ready to take actions which can help protect themselves and their property.

Met Office information

A large area of today’s thunderstorm warning will be escalated to Amber. We will also escalate to Amber for a more focused area of the rain warning which is valid through tomorrow and in to Thursday morning. A summary of the key information is below:

All warnings can be viewed on our website and Hazard Manager

Today

  • Heavy, thundery showers will develop this afternoon and last through the evening to bring some intense downpours and possible flash flooding, with lightning, hail and gusty winds as additional hazards.
  • Much of mainland Scotland away from immediate coasts could see these heavy showers today and a wide Yellow warning for thunderstorms remains in place from midday – midnight.
  • A focussed Amber warning of Thunderstorms will soon been issued for the central spine of Scotland, covering an area within a line from roughly Moffat – Peebles – Edinburgh – Perth – Grantown-on-Spey - Inverness – Fort William – Glasgow – along the M74. This will be valid from midday until 20:00 this evening. This highlights a Medium likelihood of Medium impacts, and warns of potential sudden flooding of homes and businesses, disruption to transport due to flooded roads & rail and interruption to utilities. There is also a risk that tourists and people undertaking outdoor pursuits could be caught in very heavy rain.
  • The emphasis today is mainly on surface water impacts and fast-responding catchments, with quite sudden flooding impacts. These could happen nearly anywhere today, particularly later this afternoon and evening, and due to the intensity of the rain any impacts won’t necessarily be restricted to usual, prone locations.

Overnight tonight, tomorrow and Thursday morning

  • A more persistent period of rain will move in to western areas from midnight tonight, spread eastwards across much of Scotland tomorrow morning and then pivot and stall across parts of northern Scotland tomorrow afternoon and evening, before slowly clearing southwards on Thursday morning.
  • This rain could bring further persistent and heavy rain to some areas that see intense rainfall today, compounding any flooding impacts.
  • A wide Yellow warning of Rain remains in place for much of mainland north of the Central Belt, valid from midnight tonight – 06:00 on Thursday morning.
  • A focussed Amber warning for Rain will soon be issued for an area centred around Inverness, roughly within a line from Tain – Cairngorms – Blair Athol – Torridon. This is valid from midnight tonight until 06:00 on Thursday morning and also highlights a Medium likelihood of Medium impacts. Similar flooding impacts are possible, including flooding of homes and businesses, disruption to transport, interruption to utilities, and potential access issues for some communities.
  • The emphasis during tomorrow and Thursday morning is more on persistent and occasionally heavy rain, bringing a larger build up of a rain over a longer time. This could compound any ongoing flooding impacts following today’s thunderstorms, so it could be only a slowly-improving picture for some areas.

Thursday daytime and outlook

  • The more persistent rain will slowly clear during Thursday morning. Further showers will then break out during Thursday afternoon, although not expected to be quite as heavy as today. No warnings have been issued at this stage but the forecast will be closely monitored for any potential further disruption.
  • Fewer showers on Friday and through the weekend, with the main focus across the southeast.

Please also keep an eye on the Met Office social media output through both @MetOfficeScot and @MetOffice on Twitter.

Kind regards

Rosemary Mackinnon, Policy Team, Highland Council

Head of Policy, Highland Council

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