The accuracy of rainfall estimates should improve now that the UK Met Office has completed its £10m upgrade of its Radar Network. The new network can, for the first time, capture data on the size and shape of raindrops and snowflakes, as well as wind speed data.

“The most intense rainfall events are often highly localised and can, therefore, be missed or under-sampled by rain gauge networks, and while their occurrence can be forecast with skill, it is often not currently possible to forecast their exact location,” head of the Met Office Public Weather Service, Derrick Ryall said.

Part of the investment included a new radar dish and dome being lifted into Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.