91Èȱ¬

It's an interesting morning, weather-wise, and pretty tricky out on the roads.ÌýÌýAÌýsuccession of heavy downpours are bringing someÌýdifficult driving conditions across much of our region and we'll continue to see some potent showers on-and-off throughout much of the day.

I arrived at 91Èȱ¬ Bristol at 7.40amÌýthis morning after a somewhat soggyÌý7-mile drive from Bradley Stoke, albeit some much wetter weather wasÌývery evidentÌýjustÌýsouth of my route. Looming in the early daylight, towering cloudsÌýwere showing signs of readilyÌýdeveloping in the unstable conditions, some already growing intoÌý - with some flashes of lightning a likely outcome, at least in some districts.

AsÌýI pen this blog, I'm watching further trouble brewing on the .

The Met Office rainfall radar system - shown here from 0800hrs this morning - paints a number of lively showers moving northwards during the rush-hour.

Some of these shower cells are merging together, especially through parts of Somerset and Wiltshire, where I'm tracking their likely northerly trajectories on our rainfall radar system. I'm also checking for signs of lightning, with a accurate to within 1 km, updating every 5 minutes.

The bespoke system we use - developed and supplied by the Met Office - is extremely handy for local radio 'nowcasting' and short-range forecasts. We can zoom the mapping right into the scale of suburbs and smaller villages, with the option of overlaying major and minor roads.

By cross-referencing the rainfall radar with realtime traffic camera images, the impact of inclement weather out on our roads - especially the motorway network - becomes very clear and can be relayed to colleagues providing travel updates on our morning radio programmes.

It's going to be a busy day of weather-watching... and it's barely started.

UPDATE: 1100hrs, Thursday 22 October:

We're now watching clusters of quiteÌýpotent-looking cells developing northwards through a swathe of central Wiltshire and elsewhere. As yet, they don't seem to have turned thundery. The Met Office hasÌýjust issued a warning about the continued likelihood of heavy rain across much of our region:

NATIONAL SEVERE WEATHER WARNING SERVICE

Flash Warning of
- Heavy Rain

For the following areas
- Bath + NE Somerset (Severe)
- Dorset (Severe)
- N Somerset (Severe)
- Somerset (Severe)
- Wiltshire (Severe)

Frequent heavy showers are likely to produce accumulations of 15 to
20mm within 3 hours at some locations giving rise to large amounts
of surface water. The public are advised to take extra care and
refer to the Highways Agency for further advice on traffic
disruption on motorways and trunk roads.

Issued by the Met Office at 10:49 on Thursday, 22nd October 2009
Valid from 10:50 on Thursday, 22nd October 2009Ìýuntil 16:00 on Thursday, 22nd October 2009