Severe weather warnings bring end to UK summer with thunderstorms, hail, and flooding, Met Office forecast

A weather warning for rain is already in force, covering all of Sunday for Wales and central south-west England, with further yellow and amber warnings set for after thunder, lightning, and hail have struck parts of the UK.

The yellow warning will expand to cover areas further east and north throughout the day, while the amber warning, in effect between 5am and 9pm on Monday (September 23), will focus on Birmingham, Peterborough, Stoke-on-Trent, and Hull.

Coinciding with the autumn equinox on Sunday afternoon, forecasters are predicting unsettled conditions to continue into the new season, with the possibility of additional warnings being issued. According to the Met Office, thunderstorms first swept through Cornwall on Saturday before moving north-east, reaching areas like London, Birmingham, and the East Midlands.

By midnight, a "plume" formed around Northampton, Peterborough, and Leicester, with lightning striking Great Oakley, Corby, Northamptonshire, around 1am.

Thunderstorms continued into the early hours, affecting areas to the north and south of London and creeping toward the Bournemouth coast. This intense weather caused road closures in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire due to flooding, along with train service disruptions between Penzance and London Paddington, and Penzance and Truro. The railway between Redruth and Camborne was also flooded.

Between Saturday afternoon and early Sunday, Longcliffe in Derbyshire saw 67.6mm of rain, while Creswell in Staffordshire and Evington in Leicestershire recorded 65mm and 60.4mm, respectively.

Met Office meteorologist Honor Criswick said she had “no doubt” the conditions led to damage and localised flooding in places after rain, thunder and “quite significant outbreaks of quite large hail”. There are two flood warnings in place in England for waters in north-west Leicestershire and south Staffordshire.

Ms Criswick said: “Where we’ve had the rain over the last couple of days we’re expecting further rain for the beginning of next week as well. We have just recently issued an amber warning as well for similar areas across parts of the Midlands and also just moving up into the north-east of England as well.

“So where we’ve seen accumulation of rain over the last day or so we’re expecting further rain as well. It’s likely we’ll see more impacts from flooding and road closures and things like that.”

According to the meteorologist, some affected areas could see 100 to 120mm of rain on Monday. But parts of Scotland, Ireland and north-west England might see a slightly better day and there should be a mixture of sun and showers in south-east England.

Tuesday is expected to see a “bit of a swap” where northern areas and parts of Scotland are likely to see longer spells of rain whereas much of the south, Wales and the Midlands should see a largely dry day.

“From Wednesday onwards still very unsettled outbreaks of rain, some brisk winds at times and likely to see further warnings in the week I would say,” Ms Criswick said.