A yellow weather warning for heavy rain has been issued for York and most of North Yorkshire.
The Met Office says the warning applies from 3pm today (Monday, 15 July) to 9am tomorrow.
It covers much of England, including most of North Yorkshire, such as York, Ripon, Selby and Scarborough.
These areas could experience heavy rain and localised flooding, and downpours of up to 40mm over the course of a few hours.
Bands of showery rain are tracking north across the South West with further outbreaks of rain, which will be heavy at times with a risk of thunder expected to develop later, moving northwards through the evening and overnight.
It follows a soggy first seven months of the year so far, which has seen rain blamed for dampening economic performance and consumer spending.
The news comes as a bad omen for the weather this summer according to the centuries-old legend of St Swithin’s Day.
According to traditional folklore, the weather experienced on St Swithin’s Day (July 15) will continue for the next 40 days – meaning parts of the country could be in for a soggy summer if superstition holds true.
But Andrea Bishop, Met Office spokesperson, said that the legend of St Swithin is “not backed up by statistics”.
