UK thunderstorm warnings: Heavy rain, lightning and hail mark end of warm spell

After the settled and warm spell of late summer weather many of us have had over the last week change is on the way.

The Met Office has issued yellow thunderstorm warnings for Friday and Saturday.

As well as the risk of lightning, some places in southern England and Wales could see as much as 50mm (2in) of rain, bringing the possibility of flooding and transport disruption.

This is in contrast to the past week with temperatures above average and for some in northern Scotland, the warmest spell so late in September since 2019.



Heavy showers and storms will start to develop on Friday, in central southern England, the Midlands, parts of Wales and especially south-west England.

Gusty winds and hail may accompany the downpours, with the possibility of local flash flooding.

Later in the day, the storms are expected to fade. However, another spell of storms is forecast to reach the south coast of England in the early hours of Saturday, with more downpours spreading across England and Wales throughout the day.

On both days, the thunderstorms will be hit or miss, meaning that some locations will escape them altogether. However, where they do occur, as much as 50mm (2in) of rain could fall.

Taunton, in particular, please note. 

Torbay's not well provided with tidal gauges: however, this afternoon's tide at Plymouth is overachieving.

Mark

https://ntslf.org/tides/uk-network/realtime?port=Plymouth

Well there hangs a tale.

Mark

NEWQUAY LINE CLOSED
FALMOUTH LINE CLOSED
due to flooding

Currently with the line west of Exeter St D closed UFN the nearest railhead for Cornwall is OKEHAMPTON !

Well that's certainly the impression given by GWR's Journeycheck information; however 2F88 has just departed Truro and is on its way down the Falmouth Branch. Cue excitement of watching to see if it makes it all the way! 

Embarrassing that a 30+ year old train has to rescue passengers off a train less than five years old 

Suspect there will be a few of these today. I had 4 friends (2 couples) trying to get to Plymouth from Exeter late afternoon/evening, one managed to get on a bus, the others booked into a hotel and have been advised to send details/receipts to GWR.

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/local-news/14-month-old-baby-among-9591164?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1727651345

There's a video from coastal camera footage arrived in my You Tube feed showing the rescue of the broken down train at Dawlish - link here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB9YYWmXQsU

It seems that this was an unfortunate coincidence of high spring tides around the autumn equinox and strong SE winds. Might a precautionary suspension of Inter-city services and shuttle with sprinters be a good idea as a standing contingency plan? No doubt those in the business will know if that's possible.

Following its rescue yesterday it had been left on Platform 3 at Newton Abbot causing some congestion today.

24 hours after it failed on the seawall yesterday, the nine car IET (802108) departed Newton Abbot a short while ago to head to North Pole depot via London Paddington.   

Following its rescue yesterday it had been left on Platform 3 at Newton Abbot causing some congestion today.

Years ago, I and others doubted that the IETs would cope with the well known severe conditions at Dawlish.
Supporters of the new units assured as that coping with conditions at Dawlish was an "essential requirement" and that the new trains would be fine !
When this was found not to be the case, one respected member stated that the "essential requirement" meant that the decorative finish should withstand the conditions, and not that the trains should actually function in bad weather !

ANOTHER victory for my crystal ball 

Stops at Dawlish are being withdrawn from IET services this evening due to forecasted severe weather.

Dawlish: Lifts out of order
The (NEW) lifts will be out of order between Platform 1 and Platform 1 from now until further notice at Dawlish station.
Last Updated:04/10/2024 17:40

***snip***

One day I must get to Dawlish...

Perhaps, in exposed positions, include consultancy advice from a shetland pony. The one in the photo below had its back to a clear run of sea all the way from Nova Scotia.

Mark

Due to forecasted severe weather at Dawlish fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Impact:
Train services running through this station will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice:
Due to expected bad weather in South Devon this evening, as precaution we will be limiting the number of trains calling at Dawlish station.

Only a few trains will be affected, but if you are on a train that is, please adhere to the following advice:

Customers on trains from London Paddington, or north of Dawlish should change at Exeter St. David's where connections are available.

For those travelling from Cornwall and other stations south of Dawlish, please change at Newton Abbot for connections.

We apologise for the inconvenience this evening.

TRAIN PLAN:
The following Up trains will not call at Dawlish:
2M72
2U32
2E30

The following Down trains will not call at Dawlish:
1C89
2C87
1C84.

Embarrassing that a 30+ year old train has to rescue passengers off a train less than five years old 

You cant expect a new train to be as good as the old ones, in either water resistance or in passenger comfort.
This is called progress..

Just wait until this Wednesday then.....say hello to Kirk for me

Interesting comment on Kirk.  I had assumed that the deluge we had on Tuesday afternoon / evening had come from it.

Looks like the BBC weather app and website have returned to normal. A glitch in their data feed meant they were forecasting temperatures of over 400C and wind speeds of 13000mph for parts of the UK

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cx25wjjnxp0o