Heavy rain and thunder are heading towards London this week as summer continues to loosen its grip on the capital. The experts at BBC Weather are predicting a six-hour shower will hit from around 11am today (September 1), with some sun attempting to break through throughout the day.
Skies are expected to cloud over for the first of the stormy conditions at 10am on Tuesday, kicking off a downpour that will last into the early evening. On the plus side, the wind will be kept at a minimum, reaching a peak of just 10mph.
Wednesday will then face the worst of the bad weather, according to meteorologists. The morning will begin with light rain and a gentle breeze before things really kick up a notch at midday.
40 miles per hour wind will reach the capital from the south south west, bringing nonstop rain along with it. Thunder is likely to hit close to 1pm but will die out around an hour later.
However, this will also be the warmest day of the working week, with high humidity paired with 20C highs making for a fairly uncertain day. Thursday will also be a wet one, though nowhere near as much as the days previous.
The rain will be at its heaviest ahead of rush hour, drying up just as commuters will settle into their offices for the day. Luckily, the weather looks set to clear up massively just in time for those knocking off at 5pm, with an evening of light cloud and very little rain anticipated.
UK forecast for early September
The Met Office had previously predicted the beginning of Autumn will be marred with changeable weather. Today marks the end of meteorological summer with cooling temperatures, rain and wind expected across the country, the forecaster said.
“Some of these showers will be on the heavy side, maybe the odd rumble of thunder and some hail mixed in to some of them too, but they will be moving through steadily on a fairly brisk wind in the brighter moments,” said Craig Snell, a meteorologist.
On Tuesday, rain is once again expected to develop across south-west England before spreading eastward across most parts of England and Wales.
“Throughout the day, some of this rain will be quite heavy and persistent, and overall, quite a wet picture for some of us,” Mr Snell added, “For Scotland, Northern Ireland, the far north of northern England, we just continue the mix of sunshine and the scattered showers, with maybe some sunshine returning later on in the day across the far South West, but still risk of some heavy showers here.”
The weather will likely remain unsettled throughout the rest of the week with further blustery showers and longer periods of rain across much of the UK.
The forecaster has said this summer has “almost certainly” been the UK’s warmest as the mean average temperature for the season stood at 16.13C, based on data up to August 28. If this season is confirmed as setting a new high for average temperature, it will mean all of the UK’s top five warmest summers will have occurred since the year 2000.
Will London experience a second summer?
Towards the end of September, the Met Office said we could see a brief return or warm and settled weather. The long range forecast reads: “Conditions may begin to turn more settled and drier at times, particularly in the south. Temperatures are likely to be close to average, perhaps turning warmer later in the period.”
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