Thunderstorms set to drench Britain with 10 days worth of rain failing in just three hours

17 June 2024, 17:44 | Updated: 17 June 2024, 17:45

Britain will be drenched by an epic thunderstorm with 10 days of rainfall set to fall in just three hours, forecasters say.

Large parts of the UK, including the South West, Midlands, Wales and London face over 15mm of rainfall in just three hours on Wednesday 26 June.

June’s average monthly rainfall is recorded as 47mm - meaning some parts of the country face almost a third of the month’s rainfall.

In what has been described as a UK 'mega-storm', the downpours will also sweep parts of the western European mainland.

The thunderstorm is set to hit the south west of England and Wales throughout the morning, with 18mm of rain forecast around Cardiff and 12mm expected in Exeter, according to Ventusky weather maps.

If the maps are accurate, the storm will sweep across the UK, approaching the Midlands and London in the late afternoon.

A stretch of the UK from the Midlands down to the South East coast could suffer up to 15mm of rainfall from 7pm onwards, before the area of England west of Wolverhampton and near the Welsh border faces a whopping 23mm of rain - half a month’s rain in just three hours.

By 7am the next morning the storm will have swept into Europe - but parts of the UK will still face small patches of rain on the 27th June.

The Met Office affirmed that “heavy, thundery rain” could hit the country, with a longer-term forecast reading, according to the Mirror: “Following a couple of days of largely fine and settled weather, a gradual transition to more changeable conditions from the Atlantic is likely to take place with periods of cloud, rain and stronger winds most often affecting the west and northwest.

“There remains a small chance of an area of heavy, thundery rain affecting parts of the south on Friday 21st, possibly accompanied by briefly hot and humid conditions.”

A forecast for the first two weeks of July suggested we can expect “some spells of drier, sunnier weather” but that there will nonetheless be “showers or longer spells of rain at times”.

For Monday (17 June) until Wednesday (19 June), the Met says: “Sunny spells and scattered showers Monday, these locally heavy, but some places staying dry. Fewer showers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Feeling warm in the sunshine with winds easing.”