THE Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for heavy rainfall for Bradford on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The heavy rain, which combined with snow melt, could cause flooding across the Bradford district.

The amber warning for part of central northern England also includes Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Wakefield. It is valid from 6am on Tuesday until midnight on Wednesday with the potential for up to 120mm in parts of the southern Pennines and northern Peak District.

Chief Meteorologist Neil Armstrong said: “A wide area of rainfall will move across central parts of the UK on Monday evening and bring heavy rain for the following 36 to 48 hours. The rain will be heaviest across western facing hills, in particular parts of the southern Pennines and northern Peak District where we could see up to 120mm over the course of the warning period with 40 to 70mm of rain widely across the whole amber area.

“Heavy rain will impact the whole of England and Wales by Wednesday with Yellow warnings for rain in force. By Thursday 100 to 150mm of rain could fall over high ground in Wales and Northern England. As well as rainfall, rapid snow melt will add to these accumulations, adding five to 10mm in the worst affected areas. These amounts of rainfall along with snow melt present a real threat of flooding, keep up to date with the latest Met Office forecast as well as flood warnings from the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales.”

As well as heavy rain strong winds will add to the unsettled weather especially in higher and more exposed locations.

With milder air over much of the UK this week the chance of snow has reduced in the early part of the week, with only some wintry showers forecast for parts of high ground in Scotland.

However colder air is never far away and by Thursday there is a chance of further snowfall in parts of northern Britain as the area of low pressure pulls away into the North Sea.