Last night torrential, thundery downpours affected parts of southern and southeast England causing localised flooding and disruption to transport. The table below shows the rainfall totals recorded:

The thunderstorms led to some impressive displays of lightning across these areas with over 20,000 strikes recorded over and close to the south of England during the last 24 hours. Many of these strikes were recorded offshore but still led to some remarkable sights in the sky. The image below shows a snapshot of the rainfall radar and lighting strikes at 3.30am BST this morning (Thursday):

Further thunderstorms are forecast to affect the southeast of England and East Anglia this afternoon and evening and National Severe Weather Warnings are in force. Not everywhere will see the torrential rain, but there is the chance of 30mm in an hour with locally in excess of 50mm or more possible over the course of a few hours leading to possible disruption to travel and localised flooding as well as frequent lightning.

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