Warm humid air had been rapidly advected into the southern area of the UK due to an intense upper level low. Estofex had enthusiastically issued a level 2 warning for the southern counties (click HERE to see their report). By midday altocumulus clouds we visible from the south coast indicating instability at mid level. The first elevated thunderstorm made landfall in Plymouth at 2pm and headed north later causing widespread flooding in Bristol and Herford with a spectacular gust front observed by residents. Torro issued a severe thunderstorm watch during the afternoon but it was conditional on storms becoming rooted to the boundary layer

The UK Storm Chasers were on the road by 7pm by which point elevated storms had already moved up from France in two mesoscale clusters, one into central southern England and the other into south east England. We left Winchester and within 10 minutes we were already seeing frequently anvil crawling lightning, which became more numerous at Fleet. The rain at this point had become absolutely torrential with the motorway becoming flooded. A couple of lightning strikes were so close that gun shot thunder was heard. On reaching St. Aldham’s services, the UK Storm Chasers had to decide whether to stay on these storms or risk chasing further east to southern east Anglia, to catch a much larger MCS which was making landfall. We plumped for the latter reaching Jaywick, Essex (which is on the coast facing south for ideal photo opportunities) at 10 pm. Although infrequent the lightning was spectacular and the storm in central England by this time was no longer electrically active so we had made the right decision. By 11pm the storm was dying so we embarked on the 3 hour journey home.

The following day news stories revealed that Kent had been hit by major flooding due to 60mm (2.3inches) of rain falling in a matter of hours and also a lightning strike had damaged a wind turbine in Lowestoft.