British summer to go out with a bang as thunderstorms and showers hit UK and Met Office issues urgent warnings
21 September 2024, 17:01 | Updated: 21 September 2024, 17:04
The final days of summer are set to be marred by thunderstorms and heavy showers as forecasters warned of further unsettled weather over the coming days.
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A weather warning for thunderstorms and heavy rain is in force across much of southern England and Wales ahead of summer officially ending on Sunday.
The yellow warning, which covers all of Wales and south-west England, the Midlands and parts of south-east and northern England, came into effect at 1am and lasts until midnight on Sunday.
Cornwall has been the most affected area so far on Saturday as a torrent of rain hit the south-west with further showers to come.
Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said: "The area we have seen most of the thunderstorms so far has been Cornwall, and there's been some large hail reported there as well."
Ms Mitchell added that the southwestern county has also seen lightning.
She warned there was "probably quite a lot of water on the road", after reports of about 30mm of rainfall in the area, which could lead to "tricky driving conditions".
"The only other place I've seen some thunder strikes was quite early this morning, about 6am, and that was in the Surrey and Oxfordshire region," the meteorologist said.
She added: "We have got heavy showers across Wales and London at the moment too.
"We haven't seen any thunderstorms with these showers yet but there's still quite a while to go through the afternoon when we could potentially see some more.
"Typically as the afternoon goes on, we'll see higher temperatures and the heat can help trigger the thunderstorms to kick off, so I expect through mid-afternoon we'll see some more widespread ones."
Further heavy, thundery showers, potentially accompanied by large hail, are expected across parts of Wales and southern England. Some affected areas could see 50 to 80mm of rain.
Ms Mitchell said the weather is expected to remain "unsettled" over the next few days, with "potential for some localised flooding".
A weather warning for rain will come into force on Sunday for Wales and central south-west England before another comes into effect on Monday, stretching to cover areas further east and further north as well.
It comes as a tornado swept through Aldershot, Hampshire, causing damage to properties and felling trees. No one was hurt in the freak weather event which happened at 12pm on Friday.
The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro) said that it had tracked the length of the movement of the tornado to be 2km long.
The organisation's investigator posted on Twitter that they had given the tornado a preliminary T1 or T2 rating which would rate it as a light or mild tornado.
Local resident Louise Le Poidevin said: "I was coming back and it was really, really cloudy, and as we got home the thunder started and the rain started, it was really torrential rain.
"The trees in the back garden were bent over and it was freaking us out, everything was lifted off the ground, the leaves were in a big spiral going round.
"I thought the doors and windows would come in, the noise was terrifying, then a gazebo cam flying over on to next door's fence.
"Then as soon as it started, 30, 40, 50 seconds later, it had gone."
Ms Le Poidevin, who runs a grounds maintenance business, added: "I thought it was a tornado because of the spiral, I have never seen anything like it and I am quite a weather watcher.
"Thankfully no-one was hurt, I do not know how because it was at 12 o'clock midday."
