Thunder and lightning struck large areas of the country on Sunday night, including south-east England, south-west England, most of Northern Ireland, Wales, east England, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. The yellow storm warning, which covered most of the country’s west coast, ended at 4am without any major disruption. BBC meteorologist Matt Taylor tweeted on Monday morning: “Over 36k lightning strikes recorded in and around the UK in just 12 hours. “More storms possible later today in southern areas.” Conditions had improved Monday morning, but the National Weather Service said more rain and storms were on the way. Another yellow storm warning was in place for half of Wales, parts of south-west England, southern England, the West Midlands and north-west England from 2pm on Monday until 2am on Tuesday. The weather front was expected to sweep across the country from the west, affecting central and southern regions before heading north overnight. Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said up to 80mm of rain could fall in three hours within the weather warning area and was likely to cause some disruption. “The main driver of our weather over the next few days and indeed through the week is an area of low pressure coming into the west of the UK,” he said. “And it’s been sitting there all week moving very slowly to the east. “Out of that low pressure area we’re going to get a number of fronts that sort of break away from it, as well as the storms that push up from the south.” “We also have a cold front moving east from this low pressure, bringing further rain as well,” he added. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “In this warning area there is a chance of between 20 and 30 millimeters of rain in one hour and perhaps 50 to 80 millimeters of accumulation over three hours. “Well, quite a bit of rain at that time. “Compared to the weather we’ve had all summer, with prolonged dry conditions and high pressure, it’s quite a change in weather pattern as we move into autumn. “Especially in warning areas, it’s best to stay up to date with the forecast to understand how it might affect you.” Clayton said unsettled weather could continue Tuesday and into the rest of the week, but should stabilize by the weekend. All flood warnings in place after Sunday’s downpour have been lifted, according to environment services across the UK.
