A WEATHER warning for heavy rainfall has been announced by the UK Met Office with large areas of Somerset to be affected this weekend.

Occurring in the early hours of Sunday, September 22, the heavy rain is set to affect most of Somerset - with Yeovil and Taunton to be impacted the most between the hours of 5:30 am and 6:30 am.

Areas near Tiverton and Honiton will endure heavy rainfall from 5 am to 6:30 am, with Minehead dealing with an expected minimum of 16mm-32mm of rainfall per hour at around 7 am.  

Two yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms and heavy rain showers have also been issued in the South West for Friday and Saturday, September 20 and 21.

The Met Office has warned of thunderstorms with lightning strikes likely to cause "some damage to a few buildings and structures", as well as poor driving conditions, possible power cuts, and delays to train services.

Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said: "We are being spoiled by almost summer’s last hurrah, but there’s a bit of a change coming down the line as we move our way through towards Friday, and especially the weekend.”

Heavy downpours are expected across much of central and southern England and parts of Wales over the weekend.

So far this month, the UK has seen an average of 49.5mm of rainfall – which is typical for this time of year, Mr Stroud said.

“Successive bands of rain” and “normal conditions for autumn” are expected next week, he added.