Gallery: Freak weather batters region
THE hail and thunderstorms which swept through Suffolk at the weekend came just days after the county was bathed in temperatures more akin to the Mediterranean.
Simon Tomlinson
THE hail and thunderstorms which swept through Suffolk at the weekend came just days after the county was bathed in temperatures more akin to the Mediterranean.
On Sunday, Suffolk was saturated by the heaviest rainfall since early February and a string of bizarre weather phenomena, which included twisters, hailstorms and lightening strikes.
The weekend's weird weather stood in stark contrast to the weekend before, where residents enjoyed near uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures which soared up to 27 degrees Celsius.
Keen to share their experiences with one another, readers sent in their pictures of scenes more in keeping with Christmas - after a white blanket of hail was left in some parts of the county.
Others caught funnel clouds and tornados above the skies of the county.
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Weatherman Ken Blowers said more than half an inch of rain fell on Sunday the most since 1.12ins dropped on February 9.
And he warned there may be more to come.
“The remainder of this week is going to be changeable with more raining coming overnight tonight,” he said. “It won't improve until the end of the week when a small cyclone will form over the UK, which will give us good weather.
“It will warm up later today with temperatures reaching 19C (66F).”
Mr Blowers said the bad weather was caused by a depression which moved across East Anglia on its way from Plymouth to the Humber estuary.
One of those who spotted a twister was Simon Foord, who saw the unexpected funnel shape over the Stour Valley - just south of Sudbury - from the back garden of his village home in Lamarsh.
He said: "The whole thing was quite extraordinary. It was amazing seeing the speed and power of what looked like a tornado.
"I saw this massive storm about a mile-and-a-half away and I assumed it was a twister. It just grew longer and longer but shortly after I took my third photograph, it just started collapsing. The whole incident lasted less than 15 minutes but it was amazing."
