The met office has warned of thunderstorms this week

Thunderstorms are set to hit West Suffolk over Monday from 10 am to 12am as the warm weather breaks down.

The met office has issued a yellow weather warning for ‘hit and miss’ thunderstorms for West Suffolk on Monday with potential for torrential downpours as the beginning of the week signals a change in the recent hot weather.

Met Office chief meteorologist Frank Saunders said, “hot conditions will persist in parts of the South of the UK as far as late Monday, and it will turn increasingly humid. We will also see some warm nights, with temperatures in some places staying in the low 20s Celsius.”

The hot weather we have experienced over the last week will start to dissipate and thunderstorms will take place with high humidity and pressure, Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Jason Kelly said, “the current hot weather will make way for a thundery breakdown from the west, which will spread south and east in the early part of next week. Ahead of this, isolated but intense thunderstorms are possible Monday and Tuesday.”

There is some chance of rain throughout next week with Wednesday seeing a 60 percent chance, Mr. Kelly said “some areas further south possibly seeing around 30mm of rain in a three-hour period. Hail and frequent lightning are also possible as part of these downpours and represents an additional hazard.”

Meteorologist Aidan McGivern has said the last two heatwaves are not completely to blame for the drought we are now experiencing, he said “it is actually the culmination of the last nine months. Eight of the last nine months have been drier than average across the UK, but it’s been especially dry in the south and the east and it’s been particularly the case this summer.”

In Suffolk, we have had an average of 30% rainfall this summer, on average we should expect to see around 77% of rainfall. Mr. McGivern said the rainfall we will see won’t be productive as it will be in the form of heavy showers and thunderstorms, this is particularly true for the first half of the week as low pressure starts to come into the UK.

Aidan McGivern said the showers will be “hit and miss… some places will avoid them and stay dry. In reality, what we need to make up for the rainfall deficit is a lot of moderate rainfall accumulating over several weeks (to avoid flash flooding). I think, rather than a few days of intense thunderstorms.”

 

By Alasdair English