HEAVY, thundery downpours may be heading for Leigh tomorrow, Saturday.

The Met Office has issued a weather warning for most of the country and some areas may see 20mm of rain fall in just one hour.

Intense rainfall is expected to hit parts of the south during the morning before moving northwards with some areas escaping the downpours altogether.

The Met Office’s warning said: “The public should be aware of the potential for localised flooding due to the intensity of the downpours although the location of the heaviest rainfall remains uncertain.”

The office has issued a yellow warning meaning ‘be aware’ for Leigh, where temperatures are expected to reach a high of 18 degrees.

The chief forecaster’s assessment said: “Warm, humid air will be pulled northwards from France and Spain late on Friday and during Saturday.

“Within this air mass, there is an increasing likelihood of heavy, thundery downpours breaking out.

"It is likely that many places within the current broad warning area will miss the worst of the storms but where they occur they could produce in excess of 20mm of rain in an hour, with one or two places seeing more than 40mm within two or three hours, with localised flooding a possibility.”

The weather should settle down on Sunday with light showers and highs of 20 degrees expected for the Race for Life at Pennington Flash.