Britain is set for more thunderstorms and heavy downpours as the hot weather makes way for flash flooding over the next week.
A yellow Met Office weather warning remains in place for thunderstorms until 10am this morning across northern England and northern Wales.
Throughout the day, the wet weather will drift southwards and eastwards, giving large areas of England some much-needed respite from the heatwaves that have conquered the summer months.
Temperatures are expected to drop over the coming days, with some areas remaining below the August average until the end of the week.
Drivers are being warned that the return to wet weather could lead to sudden flash flooding as well as slippery conditions.
Despite rain finally falling across most of the UK this week, the Met Office has warned that the drought “will not be fixed” overnight.
Met Office data showed up to 23mm of rain fell in parts of central southern Lancashire in the 12 hours to 6am on Wednesday, with up to 13mm recorded in parts of Northern Ireland and between 6-10mm across south-west England.
Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “I suspect many people across England and Wales will at least enjoy the feel of some rain falling out of the sky during the next few days.
“But it’s not going to solve the drought situation overnight because we’re not expecting huge amounts and it will be highly variable because a lot of it will come in the form of showers.”
Mr McGivern described Wednesday as a “very showery day” nationwide, with Northern Ireland and western and central Scotland bearing the brunt through “frequent showers with heavy downpours, hail and thunder”.
However, the rainfall will remain “hit and miss, very speckled in nature,” Mr McGivern cautioned.
Friday will see the coldest temperatures of the week, with parts of Scotland and northern England seeing nighttime temperatures around 3 or 4C.
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It comes as Thames Water has ordered Britons to take “shorter showers” as stocks dwindle amid the ongoing drought.
The London utility, which supplies water to 16 million customers, has urged Britons to reduce water usage as it revealed water reservoir levels were lower than expected for this time of the year.
The utility said its London reservoir was down to 74 per cent, below an average of 87 per cent for this time of year.
Meanwhile, Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire was 92 per cent full, but this was also slightly below the average of 96.4 per cent for this time of year and was steadily declining.
Martin Padley, water director at Thames Water, said water reduction measures taken by customers had been “making a real difference” to protect water supplies, as demand dropped by three per cent across London and more than six per cent.
“With reservoir levels below where we would expect them to be for this time of year and demand remaining high, we’re asking customers to keep going and continue using only what they need,” he said.
“Small changes, such as taking shorter showers, turning off taps and avoiding non-essential water use outdoors, all help reduce pressure on our network while our teams continue working around the clock to find and fix leaks.”
Rainfall in the Thames catchment area during July was less than 1 millimetre, just two per cent of the long-term average, Thames Water said.
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