I have been working in Suffolk today. The guys on site reported an intense thunderstorm on Saturday (or Sunday) night with sheet lightening and heavy rainfall that flooded the site & set a number of intruder alarms off over several hours. There was a possible lightning strike nearby which (despite sophisticated protection devices) damaged some IT systems and took out the fire detection system! Even today, there was deep mud on roads from the floods.

I stick with the flying ants over that sort of damage

That ties in with many of the live reports I was viewing from that area at the time SOT, and thanks for posting.

We MAY be looking at a classic 'Spanish Plume' ** event this weekend which is why I will be keeping a very close watch on the prospects for the next few days and updating regularly.

It is worth mentioning that with the heat and humidity rising anyone with breathing difficulties will find the next few days particularly uncomfortable. Please warn family, friends and neighbours and if at all possible check on them regularly. These conditions are potentially life threatening.

Moley

** Spanish Plume:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_plume

Doesn't sound good for the next few days then

Thanks for the heads up

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Lets be careful out there !

Following on from my post yesterday, the Met Office have today issued an official HEAT-HEALTH WATCH as per the link below :

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... heatHealth

Effective from 0800 hours Friday July 18th to 0800 hours Sunday July 20th.

Moley

I am back off to the sunny ( but thankfully slightly cooler ) South Coast for a few days tomorrow but I will be updating this topic, especially in view of the potential for severe weather looming ever closer.

The increasing heat and humidity both here and on the near continent in the next couple of days are conspiring to form a possibly explosive cocktail. The Spanish Plume is in full flow and as a result temperatures in parts of France are expected to reach 36-40c ( 97-104f ). Thankfully I think the most we will reach here in our region is 30-32 c ( 86-90f ) somewhere in the London area, and of course a few degrees cooler on the coast.

The West Country and Wales may experience some thunderstorms from this evening onwards, but the main focus is on Friday night and into Saturday.

There is now quite widespread agreement between the computer models, and it's being backed up by respected forecasters, that we may be in for a quite notable thunderstorm event across much of the UK in the coming days. More updates to follow as the information becomes available.

Thanks for reading and posting. Moley

NB: Here's a link you might find useful because this weekend might well see an MCS feature affecting the UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoscale_ ... ive_system

I was hoping to get to Farnborough air show on Saturday. Now I am not so sure

Rain Saturday but I suppose we do need a bit if Friday is going to get to 31°C

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Lets be careful out there !

***SEVERE WEATHER WARNING*** IMMINENT

Unfortunately the timing means this post is unlikely to be seen in time by many, however better than not post it at all

Since approximately midnight an area of intense and quite violent thunderstorms has crossed the English Channel and made landfall along a section of the South Coast from roughly Devon in the West to The Isle of Wight and Bournemouth in the East.

The storms which hit the Isle of Wight and surrounding areas were particularly severe, with frequent lightning, very heavy rain/hail and extremely gusty winds.

This area is now moving steadily NNE, towards Hampshire and as they continue inland they are not expected to weaken to any great extent. Parts of Surrey and London could well be in the firing line, the further West in those areas, the greater the risk.

This is only a precursor to what is expected to be a similar outbreak of severe storms from late Friday evening and through into Saturday. I will try and post more about that threat later today.

Travel conditions are likely to be atrocious at times in affected areas, so please take care.

Moley

Yes, that was an interesting night about 02:30. I would have expected a temperature dip but alas not, still 18°C at 06:00.

The beeb weather are hinting that it 'could' get to 33 later

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Lets be careful out there !

***SEVERE WEATHER WARNING - UPDATE***

The Met Office have raised their warning for the weather overnight ( Friday/Saturday), from yellow to amber.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... 1405724400

I gather it all got rather lively across much of our region last night, and tonight some areas may well see similar conditions being repeated. Situations like this are virtually impossible to predict accurately, for example last nights thunderstorms were expected to be confined mainly to the West Country and Wales, but rapidly spread much further east. Not far enough east to reach me here in Hastings unfortunately, they stubbornly refused to progress any further than Eastbourne, much to my disappointment.

My turn tonight hopefully.

In all seriousness though folks, some of these storms could become strong to severe overnight and may lead to localised flooding and/or damage. Once the main band has cleared through London and the South East on Saturday morning, there is a further risk of 'homegrown' thunderstorms erupting pretty much anywhere during the rest of the day and into the evening.

Despite all this enjoy your weekend, and thanks as always for reading.

Moley