Yes, I've been tracking the worst of it on my MetOffice desktop gadget. looks decidedly dodgy up north

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Lets be careful out there !

So far everything seems to be to the north of us. Reports are coming in of some severe thunderstorms in the Midlands and Lincolnshire, and more firing up further north, Newcastle area.

Meanwhile here in London and the South East it remains relatively quiet with the temperature at 27.3c, dew point of 21.7c..

Lovely weekend for cycling yesterday, we made it all the way to Watford Cassiobury Park it would hope this weekend holds out, we are off to Snowdonia.

My apologies for the sparsity of my posts in the last few days, but a combination of work and decorating attempts/duties have cut my 'free' time down to the bone !

I'll state the obvious by saying that July is now following the same gloomy pattern that bought us some record high rainfall and lack of sunshine we witnessed in June. The Jet Stream is firmly stuck to its southerly track thanks to High Pressure planted over Greenland and Eastern Europe. As a result, our 'green and pleasant' Island is the perfect target for wave after wave of Low Pressure systems and troughs. Cloud and rain are the order of the day, occasionaly broken up by brief spells of sunshine and showers.

The latest Low Pressure system attacking our shores looks likely to draw up some warmer air from our south, so temperatures should pick up a degree or two. That in turn tends to suggest a southerly plume which could well lead to some thundery outbreaks similar to those which hit the Midlands and North East last week. Where these storms break out is pure guesswork at this stage, but where they do occur more torrential rainfall is likely. Time permitting I'll be keeping a watch out for London and the South East for Friday and Saturday in particular.

As regular readers of this topic will know, I don't like looking too far ahead, but I have looked at the projected model runs for July, and I can't see any signs of an improvement until mid July at the earliest.

Thanks as always for reading and posting. Moley

I can confirm it has been raining of late.

Still, if it helps top up the aquifers so we are no longer under the threat of standpipes then it's OK with me (for this year only though)

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Lets be careful out there !

Since getting home from work earlier this morning I have spent some time looking at the prospects for the next 24-72 hours
for London and the South East in particular, but also the country as a whole.

Yet again its a complicated picture, and folk far more qualified than me are struggling to pin things down. There is no doubt that yet another Low Pressure system is approaching the UK from the west, and as it heads our way its drawing up some very warm, unstable and moist air from the south.

There is increasing agreement that some parts of the UK will see some significant amounts of rainfall during this time, up to 100mm's ( 4 inches ). The big question is where and when though ? I am leaning towards the model runs which show the heaviest rainfall occurring in the eastern half of the country, so East Anglia, Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire, Humberside and County Durham. This will be overnight on Thursday, and ino Friday.

London and the South East is still at risk of some outbreaks of heavy rainfall and at times thundery weather from now until at least Sunday. The outlook for the weekend is that Saturday will probably be a mix of sunshine and showers, but Sunday could well see more in the way of heavy and persistant rain.

All in all its a continuation of whats turning out to be a 'lost summer' here in the UK.

Thanks as always for reading and posting. Moley

The reports this morning confirm the above in that we will miss the worst of it but the areas mentioned by Moley above will get a good soaking today with potential flooding.

Makes me wonder whether after years of below average rainfall it's just nature catching up ?

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Lets be careful out there !

Has anyone seen the sun lately ??

I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky as the worst of the weather is just to our north again, but here in the South East its just another day of slate grey skies with some rain thrown in. Temperatures are about as depressed as I am, currently 14.9c at Northolt.

This really is turning out to be a lost summer

Any improvement expected in the next week Moley?