orrential downpours have battered the UK, with one a part of Essex seeing greater than an inch of rain in only one hour.
Andrewsfield in Essex reported 1.43 inches (36.4mm) of rain in an hour, rising to 2.2 inches (56mm) in three hours, on Thursday morning as heavy showers and storms swept throughout the east and south east of England.
A yellow thunderstorm warning is in place for London and the South East, the East of England and the East Midlands till 3pm – with forecasters saying flooding is probably going amid “intense downpours”.
Annie Shuttleworth, a meteorologist on the Met Workplace, stated: “We have now seen a band of fairly heavy and thundery rain push throughout central and south-eastern components of England, and it’s going to proceed to push into East Anglia via the remainder of right now.
“In a single day, Andrewsfield acquired 56mm of rain in three hours, and in six hours, 61.4mm of rain.
“The typical rainfall for August for an space in southern England is 67.8mm, so it’s not higher than that but it surely’s shut – so it was a big quantity of rainfall.”
In east London, Dagenham Heathway station was closed on Thursday morning as a consequence of flooding attributable to heavy rain, whereas plenty of exits had been closed at Charing Cross station in central London.
The Met Workplace has warned of adverse driving situations and a few highway closures as a consequence of spray and standing water.
Prepare delays and potential lack of energy and different companies are additionally probably.
The Setting Company has issued 9 alerts for areas the place “flooding is feasible”, together with within the south London boroughs of Merton, Sutton, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, Wandsworth, Lewisham, Bromley, Greenwich and Croydon.
The climate warning comes after a interval of dry climate which has seen drought declared throughout swathes of England, with parched grass and struggling crops, streams drying up and river, reservoir and aquifer ranges low, and hosepipe bans introduced in for tens of millions as heatwaves pushed up demand for water.
As of Wednesday, the UK as a complete had had solely 46% of the typical complete rainfall for August.
The financial institution vacation is anticipated to be largely dry with heat sunny spells, although presumably wetter within the North West.
Temperatures might climb to 30C or into the mid-20s relying on how the excessive strain builds, the Met Workplace stated.
Spokesman Grahame Madge stated: “We’ve undoubtedly switched from the recent and dry regime to one thing that has rain within the forecast.”
Whereas the downpours will imply this month will “catch up a bit” with rainfall totals, he stated: “It’s definitely going to be a dry August for the entire of the UK.”
And he stated some areas had gone with none vital rainfall from the center of June till final week.
“We’ve had under common rainfall for such a very long time, it’s going to take a interval of above common rain to make it up,” he warned.
Whether or not that interval of above common rainfall is looming stays to be seen, with the Met Workplace set to convey out its seasonal forecast for the probably situations over the following few months subsequent week.
It’s doable for the climate to show round: the severely dry summer season of 1976 was adopted by rain that meant that rainfall ranges had caught up with the typical by the top of autumn.
However scientists warn that local weather change is making climate extremes extra probably, rising heatwaves, droughts and heavy rain occasions that may result in flash floods.
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