28 June 2005

Met Office forecasters are tracking active electrical storms today as more heavy downpours look set to move out of France and affect parts of southern Britain through Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday.

Some places could see as much as 60 mm (2.4 in) of rain in just a few hours and localised flooding is quite likely. Although severe, these storms will not generally be as widespread or as long-lasting as last week's.

Southern England will bear the brunt of the storms during Tuesday afternoon and evening with some heavy, thundery showers expected. Trafalgar Day celebrations taking place on and around the Solent during the day could be affected. The thundery downpours are expected to continue moving north overnight to affect parts of the Midlands, northern England and Northern Ireland.

The storms will form as a trigger mechanism in the upper atmosphere combines with very warm, humid air spreading north out of France. Warnings have been issued by the Met Office and the development of the storms will be closely monitored.

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