Manchester is famously wet by English standards, averaging around 870 mm (roughly 34 inches) of rain a year, spread fairly evenly across all twelve months with no real dry season. Its position on the western side of England, closer to the Atlantic and the Pennine hills, means it picks up more frontal rain than drier eastern England. Persistent drizzle and overcast skies are far more common here than sudden violent downpours, though summer thunderstorms do occur. Because the rain is so frequent but usually mild, radar is most useful for timing brief drier windows between bands rather than tracking dangerous storms. The UK Met Office operates the national weather radar network covering Greater Manchester.
Learn more: How Does Rain Radar Work? · Open the full Rain Map