A yellow weather warning for heavy rain has been issued for large parts of the UK this weekend, threatening flooding and disruption.

The Met Office warning is in place from 9pm Saturday evening until 6pm Sunday, and covers almost the entire lower part of England and Wales, stretching from the South coast as far up as Sheffield.

Image: Pic: Met Office

A new band of "heavy and thundery rain" will arrive on the south coast on Saturday and move northwards overnight, affecting central and southern England and Wales, the Met Office said.

It added some places could see up to 100mm of rain and there was a risk of flooding and power cuts.

It comes after earlier heavy rain lashed southern England and Wales on Thursday and Friday.

The Met Office said: "Whilst there remains some uncertainty with exact details, areas of heavy and at times thundery rain are expected to spread north, then west, across England and Wales from this evening and overnight.

"These areas of heavy rain may become more persistent across western areas during Sunday daytime whilst slow-moving heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely to develop further east.

"Rainfall amounts will vary considerably across the warning area with some locations seeing less than 10 mm of rainfall whilst others see 40-60 mm of rain.

"There is a lower chance that a few spots within the warning area could see 80-100 mm of rain by the end of Sunday which may fall in a fairly small period of time.

"These higher totals are slightly more probable in the southern half of the warning area.

"Given this region has also seen a lot of rain since Thursday, impacts may be more likely than would normally be expected for the time of year here."

Elsewhere, sunny and dry spells are still expected further north, but conditions will be turning cloudier and more mild.

Cooler, fresher temperatures are widely expected across the country into next week with a generally unsettled outlook, according to forecasters.

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