Hurricanes Lee and Maria remnants to hit UK and Ireland

Hurricanes Lee and Maria are currently heading towards us, according to the latest models from the Met Office.

It's not unusual for weather systems like these to head north out of the tropics and to our shores.

But the waters of the North Atlantic are too cool to sustain a hurricane, so they lose their source of energy and rapidly weaken.

Despite this, the systems will still contain air of tropical origin, and warm air holds more moisture, so a lot of rain is expected.

In fact, the Met Office has issued a yellow 'be aware' rainfall warning for Sunday and Monday, where 25-50mm of rain is likely across western parts of the UK. Up to 100mm is possible on some hills.

Currently Hurricanes Lee and Maria are in the Atlantic to the east of Canada.



Lee is a category two status storm with maximum sustained winds of 110mph, and Maria is a category one with winds up to 75mph.

However, as expected, they will be downgraded as they move eastwards towards Ireland and the UK.

At this stage remnants of ex-hurricane Lee may become entrained within another weather system arriving later on Saturday and into Sunday to the north of the UK.

This could mean a lot of rainfall, especially across western areas.

After that is ex-Maria, which looks like it might take a more southerly track through Sunday night and into Monday.

This may have a greater impact across France, but heavy rain is still possible in the south.

There is still lots of uncertainty in regards to the timings of these systems and their exact paths.

However, once these systems clear away high pressure is set to build across the UK and Ireland, so the weather is likely to settle for the end of next week.

http://news.sky.com