Britain faces further storms today as regions continue to battle floods – with thunder, lightning hail and more than an inch (30mm) of rain set to fall within two hours.
Dozens of areas across southern England were on flood watch today after up to half of the average monthly rainfall for May came down in just a few hours yesterday.
The Environment Agency has issued 35 flood alerts and seven warnings for England, with a map revealing the biggest clusters are around Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
And more downpours are on the way today with a Met Office thunderstorm warning in place from 1pm until 8pm for much of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Forecasters said there was a ‘good chance driving conditions will be affected by spray, standing water and/or hail, leading to longer journey times by car and bus’.
They added that delays to train services were possible and there will ‘probably’ be some damage to some buildings and structures from lightning strikes.
It comes after a major incident was declared in Somerset today amid major flooding with some homes evacuated due to mudslides and roads left impassable.
In the Somerset village of North Cadbury, homes were evacuated when 18 properties became overwhelmed with water that locals said reached 4ft (1.2m) in parts.
Firefighters helped people get out of their homes in Sidmouth, Devon, while a school in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, was evacuated after being hit by lightning.
And rail passengers using CrossCountry and South Western Railway services were warned that a landslip between Basingstoke and Winchester had blocked all lines.
After torrential rain yesterday, showers are predicted to last through the week – with a brief respite on Friday and Saturday then perhaps more rain in the West on Sunday.
This year’s spring has been far wetter and cooler than average, and even weather forecasters are trying to work out exactly why.
The Met Office said this year’s lack of warm spring sunshine has been down to Britain being near-constantly in the path of the jet stream, bringing a ‘conveyor belt’ of low pressure weather systems.
Scientists also said the weather could be due to a completely random, ‘natural variation’ of the jet stream – which is also weak this year.
This means its path is in ‘waves’ rather than a straight line, so cover a greater geographical area, meaning weather systems are more likely to hit Britain.
One cause could be global warming, meaning the North Pole has been warmer this winter. This leads to less temperature variation with the tropics and less energy in the jet stream.
Meanwhile, sudden stratospheric warming, the same phenomenon causing extreme winter weather such as the Beast from the East, can also mean less energy in the jet stream, so potentially having the same effect on Britain’s weather, the Met Office adds.
The jet stream’s low energy led to just two named storms during the autumn, winter and spring – when last year there were seven, including three in a week – plus more rain and lower temperatures.
Stephen Dixon, Met Office spokesman, said: ‘Spring has been cooler and wetter than average so far.
‘At this point in the season you’d expect to have had 75 per cent of the season’s average total rainfall (but), including provisional Met Office data up to Monday, the UK has had 97 per cent of its average for the whole season.’
Mr Dixon said yesterday’s thundery showers, which were predicted to bring as much as 30mm to 40mm (1.2in to 1.6in) of rain in places, mean the country is now likely to have surpassed the expected spring total three weeks early.
Meanwhile, the average maximum daily temperature for March, April and so far in May is 10.96C (51.7F) – which is 1.17C (2.1F) lower than average.
