LONDON and the South of England is set to be lashed with torrential rain and thunderstorms – with flood warnings now in force.
Brits planning a summer staycation will be disappointed as yellow thunderstorm warnings remain in place today and tomorrow for much of the South.
It follows soaring temperatures for much of the country, with highs of 32C on Thursday in the south of England.
But torrential downpours soon followed with warnings that 30 to 40mm of rain could fall in an hour in the South today and the potential for 60 to 90mm in the space of a few hours.
Pictures show holidaymakers lounging on Brighton beach today in defiance of the grey skies and miserable weather.
Met Office weather maps show that the South of England will be hit particularly badly this weekend – though heavy showers and thunderstorms will move northwards tomorrow.
Matthew Box, a Met Office forecaster, said: “Saturday will begin mostly cloudy for most areas across the UK but as the day goes on showers will start to break out in the south and south east of England.
“As the day progresses further there’s a chance of some rumbles of thunder and potentially some hail and lightning.
“The risk of thunder will start to push further north on Sunday, with central parts of England and Wales facing heavy rain and the chance of flooding.”
However, areas in Scotland and north western England and Northern Ireland are expected to stay dry with a few sunny spells, following a week of heavy rain.
Mr Box attributed this to winds, causing an “east-west” split in northern areas.
Parts of Southern England have already seen flooding, with Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire closing multiple roads submerged after heavy downpours this morning.
Hertfordshire Mercury reports that traffic chaos was seen in the town as roads were closed.
Ahead of the flooding, Neil Davies, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, warned: “Isolated thunderstorms could bring sudden surface water and river flooding, which may lead to flooded properties and severe travel disruption in some areas.
“Further surface water and river flooding is also a possibility until Sunday.”
The weather warnings for parts of England and Wales are likely to be in place going into Monday.
In an update this morning, the Met Office added: “Areas of heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely to move north across England and Wales during Sunday.
“Some locations within the warning area may miss the thunderstorms altogether, but where they do occur 30 to 40mm of rain may fall in an hour with the potential for 60 to 90mm in a few hours.”
They added: “The thunderstorms may be accompanied by large hail, frequent lightning and gusty winds.”
Forecasters also expect a much cooler weekend after record temperatures in the past fortnight – with the mercury dropping to the low twenties for most of the nation.
On Thursday the south was hard hit by heavy rains with the M23 one of many roads affected by the deluge, being temporarily closed in both directions between junctions eight and seven.
It comes after heavy rain which lashed southern England on Thursday afternoon forced parts of the M25 to be closed, while passengers were evacuated from a train which became stuck following a landslide in Kent.
