Hail, thunder and flooding to hit UK after warmest spring equinox since 1972

Heavy rain, hail and thunder are forecast to hit the UK days after the warmest spring equinox in more than 50 years.

There was heavy rain in some places on Saturday afternoon and National Highways said parts of the M18 in Yorkshire were closed while specialists worked to clear floodwater.

The Met Office said: “Heavy showers have developed across eastern parts of England this afternoon, with some hail and thunder mixed in.

“Heavy, thundery showers continue in parts of London and the East Midlands, with some areas seeing 10-15mm of rain in less than an hour.”

The UK saw its warmest spring equinox day since 1972 on Thursday as temperatures reached 21C in parts of the country.

Jonathan Vautrey, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “For this time in the year, it is rarer to have such intense storms.

“This is happening because we have had a lot of warm weather of late and temperatures are notably above average for the time of year.

“We’ve had highs reaching over 20C over the last few days, and we were up to 18.5C as the high today as well, where we should be more around 10 or 11C.

“That sort of heat that we’ve got around at the moment has really helped to spark off some of these thunderstorms, and a lot of moisture being drawn in with this sort of low-pressure system that’s been arriving across the UK.

“We know that climate change is pushing our temperature extremes to new levels. We’re constantly seeing warmer temperatures at earlier points of the year compared to where they normally are.

“These sort of intense summer storms are then increasingly going to happen at more points in the year because we’re getting those temperatures in there to really allow them to start developing.”

Flood alerts from the Environment Agency remain in place for 20 parts of the country including Henley, Salisbury and Hertfordshire.

The Met Office told travellers to “take care” as “there could be some localised flooding in places.”