Over a month of rain could fall in the space of a few hours when stormy weather batters Edinburgh this weekend, locals have been warned.
Forecasters predict thunderstorms are set to light up the Capital’s skies on Friday afternoon, with a yellow warning in place during the day.
But the city could see a repeat of scenes early last month when heavy flooding left streets submerged and vehicles abandoned in several feet of water.
Around 80-100mm of rain could build up during the course of the day - well over the monthly mean of 60.2mm recorded in the Capital during the month of August.
According to the Met Office, 40.6mm of rain was recorded at the Capital’s Botanic Gardens in one hour during the storm on July 4 - equivalent to around two-thirds of the monthly expected rainfall.
Motorists in Stockbridge were forced to abandon vehicles after becoming stuck in surging water that swamped the road, while several homes and businesses were ruined by flood waters.
Local authority chiefs said the ‘extreme weather’ made it ‘impossible’ for Scottish Water systems to cope, leading to several prominent thoroughfares becoming impassible for vehicles.
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The Met Office has now warned of similar scenes this weekend as experts urged locals to be careful.
A forecaster said: “Within the warning area, showers and thunderstorms will be slow-moving and may cause localised surface water impacts. Rainfall totals will vary considerably and not all locations will be affected by the heaviest showers.
“However, where the showers do occur there is potential for 20-30mm of rain in a short space of time and during the course of the day there is a chance that some places could see as much as 80-100mm build up."
