Yellow weather warning for thunderstorms in West Norfolk extended to Wednesday
West Norfolk is set to experience unsettled weather this week as a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms has been extended.
The warning was in place for most of the UK yesterday and today, but now includes tomorrow for places in southern England, including Norfolk.
The Met Office has warned of the potential for frequent lightning, large hail and flash flooding impacts from rainfall, which could see 50mm fall in a two or three-hour period in a few places.
Dan Suri is the Met Office’s chief forecaster. He said: “The change in weather regime will see the heat of the last few days slip away from the south and east, this will be increasingly replaced with more unsettled conditions with heavy showers, thunderstorms and torrential downpours being key hazards over the UK until Wednesday.
“Although not all places will be affected, where thunderstorms occur there is the potential to for very large rainfall totals, but when that heavy rain is falling on extremely dry ground, the risk of flash flooding is much more pronounced.
"With no meaningful rainfall in some southern locations since June, soils in these areas have become baked by the sun turning them into hard almost impenetrable surfaces.
"Any rainfall in these areas won’t be able to soak away and instead it will wash off soils and other hard surfaces, creating flash flooding in some areas. This excess water can rapidly inundate some flood-prone areas.
"Particular areas of cautions are low-lying stretches of road and those areas adjoining sloping fields where water can quickly run off, creating fast-emerging hazards.”
It comes after weeks of little rain and warm conditions have caused droughts across parts of the UK, leaving land parched.
An official drought was declared in eight areas of England on Friday by the National Drought Group, including East Anglia.
South West Water, Welsh Water, Southern Water and South East Water have already imposed hosepipe restrictions while Yorkshire Water’s ban will start on August 26 and Thames Water said it is planning one in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Christine Colvin, director of advocacy and engagement at the Rivers Trust, told the PA news agency there is a risk that people will not take the drought seriously in the coming days “just because it rains”.
“We want people to keep this rainfall event in context and as part of the bigger picture, and the bigger picture is that we’ve actually still had an incredibly dry year as well as a dry summer, and it’s going to take sustained rainfall to replenish our supplies.
“Just because it rains, it doesn’t mean the drought is over,” Ms Colvin added.
“It seems very counter-intuitive, but it’s going to take sustained rain to replenish the supplies we actually use, which are the aquifers and the managed storage in our reservoirs.”
