Met Office cold shoulders reports of October snow — but Wednesday's a washout for Northamptonshire

Met Office experts have rubbished reports that Northamptonshire could see SNOW before the end of October.

But there will be a bucket-load of rain soaking the county tomorrow.

Forecasters today issued a yellow weather warning for heavy downpours from 3am on Wednesday to mid-afternoon.

A Met Office spokesman said: "Heavy rain will move north during the early hours of the morning and persist through the peak morning travel period, before clearing northeastwards.

"Between 10 and 15mm of rain will fall widely, with as much as 30 to 50mm in a few locations.

"With much of this falling in a short period, around 3 to 6 hours, some surface-water flooding is likely in places, leading to disruption to travel."

Dramatic headlines in one national newspaper claimed yesterday "The UK is forecast to see snow and freezing temperatures as the latest weather maps and charts show an icy blast hitting the country."

But a Met Office spokesman said: "There has been some speculation in the media that we might be about to see widespread snow — however, there are no indications in the forecast for the rest of October of conditions which would be likely to lead to heavy snowfall.

"If we see any snow at all it is likely to be confined to Scottish hills.

"Temperatures for the rest of the month are expected to be around normal for the time of year, although perhaps a little below towards the North West and a little above towards the South East."

The only time in the last 80 years it snowed in Northampton this late in the calendar was in 2008 when a sharp downfall caused a Northampton Town match against Colchester to be called off on October 28.

The lowest October temperature recorded in the county during October was -2.7 °C early on October 29, 2008.

Met Office forecasters are predicting more showers on Friday while next week is likely to be more unsettled with outbreaks of rain and blustery showers in many parts.

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