Severe weather warning issued as torrential rain and hail hit UK

A national severe weather warning has been issued as thunderstorms and hail are expected to hit parts of the UK.

The Met Office’s yellow weather alert for the south and east of England will come into effect at 1pm on Sunday and expire at 6am on Monday, with half a month’s worth of rainfall expected to fall within ‘one hour in some areas.

Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to cause some disruption, including potential surface water flooding which could impact homes.

Potential road closures and difficult driving conditions could be caused by sea spray and flash flooding.

Met Office chief forecaster Steve Willington said: “Parts of the warning area could see torrential rain, perhaps even reaching 40mm of rain in an hour.

“Later in the warning period there is a risk of large hail, frequent lightning and gusty winds.”

The new alert follows an earlier warning issued in parts of south-west England and south Wales, warning of a possible “risk to life”, which is due to expire at 6pm today today.

Heavy rain brought “torrential downpours” to south-west England on Sunday morning, with localized flooding across south Devon.

More storms are also possible in the coming days as the remnants of Hurricane Lee, which hit New England in the US and eastern Canada, are expected to cross the UK from Tuesday.

Commenting on the longer-term outlook, the Met Office’s David Oliver said: “Over the rest of today (Sunday) and tomorrow we will see a transition to cooler conditions, the heat and humidity of recent days being pushed back towards the east of the United Kingdom. .

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“This will allow for cooler and, at times, unstable conditions due to what is happening in the Atlantic.”

It comes after weeks of unseasonably high temperatures, which saw a new record set when the UK experienced the seventh consecutive day of temperatures above 30C, making it the longest heatwave of the month of September.

Last Saturday was named the hottest day of 2023 with 32.7°C recorded at Heathrow.

Showers and thunderstorms followed the September 2016 heatwave, with forecasters predicting a similar trend this year.