Locals are being warned to take care this afternoon after the Met Office issued a sudden yellow weather warning for a large amount of rain set to cause hazardous conditions.
The yellow weather warning was issued at 10.30am by the weather forecaster, with heavy rain expected to start at around 2pm with the likelihood of localised flooding across the area.
Scattered heavy and locally thundery downpours are likely to develop across parts of southern England, the south Midlands and southeast Wales this afternoon, only slowly easing this evening.
With the ground saturated over much of the region, the public should be aware of the risk of local flooding and associated disruption.
The Met Offices chief forecaster said: “A deeply unstable airmass is likely to affect southwest Britain later today associated with a slack area of low pressure over the English Channel.
“Some locally intense downpours are likely to develop giving 15 mm in less than an hour, and some 30 mm in 3 hours or less.
“It looks as if the greater risk is across Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.
“However, as often happens in these situations, rainfall amounts could vary markedly, with some areas missing the worst.”
The weather warning is in force until 10pm.