Flood alerts in place as thunderstorms hit UK
Heavy rain to move northwards across much of UK, Met Office says
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Your support makes all the difference.Several flood alerts remain in place on Monday after more than 36,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the UK in just 12 hours.
Thunder and lightning were seen across large parts of the country on Sunday night, including over south-east England, south-west England, most of Northern Ireland, Wales, the east of England, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.
BBC meteorologist Matt Taylor tweeted on Monday morning: “Over 36 thousand lightning strikes were recorded in and around the UK in just 12 hours.
“More thunderstorms possible later today in southern areas.”
Five alerts for possible flooding are in place for the River Soar in Lancashire, Lower Dove Brooks in Staffordshire, River Cole and Dorcan Brook in Swindon, River Maun in Nottinghamshire and River Plym and Tory Brook in Devon.
A yellow thunderstorm warning from the Met Office expired at 4am without any significant disruption.
There was still plenty of thunder and lightning seen across London and south-east England, south-west England, most of Northern Ireland, large parts of Wales, east of England, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.
The Met Office says the conditions will clear up for many this morning before showers return later for some south and central parts.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected to return in the evening moving northwards across much of the UK.
Met Office spokesperson Oli Claydon said up to 80mm of rain could fall in three hours within the weather warning area and will likely cause some disruption.
“The main factor leading our weather in the next few days and indeed through the week is an area of low pressure that’s coming to the west of the UK.
And it sits there through the week very slowly moving eastward,” Mr Claydon said.
“From that area of low pressure we’ll get a number of fronts that are sort of spinning off it, as well as the thunderstorms which are being pushed up from the south.
“We’ve also got a cold front that’s moving eastward off of that low pressure, bringing further rain as well,” he added.
“In that warning area there is a possibility of between 20 to 30 millimetres of rain in an hour, and maybe 50 to 80 millimetres accumulating in over three hours.
“So a fair bit of rainfall in that time.
“Compared to the weather that we’ve had throughout the summer, with prolonged dry conditions and high pressure, it is very much a change in weather type as we’ve moved into autumn.
“Particularly in warning areas it’s best to keep up to date with the forecast to understand how it might affect you.”
Mr Claydon said the unsettled weather could continue into Tuesday and the rest of the week but should settle by the weekend.