IPSWICH was today hit by torrential rain, hail and thunderstorms.

IPSWICH was today hit by torrential rain, hail and thunderstorms.

Car alarms were set off by the storm and roads were turned white with hailstones.

Despite some sunny spells today so far, there has since been some heavy showers, with hail, along with thunder storms including lightening.

Strong winds from the west and north west direction have also been hitting the region.

Tonight is expected to be mainly dry and tomorrow will bring some more scattered showers.

In a marked change to the blue skies and warm sunshine of the last two weekends, the clock change this weekend brings with it a return of a windy, wintry mix of weather.

Atlantic weather systems have already brought colder, north-westerly winds and some rain to parts of Britain. As the week goes on the weather will become increasingly unsettled and windy, with periods of rain and a mix of hail, sleet and snow showers.

Met Office forecaster Will Lang said: “The weather this weekend is going to be quite a contrast to the recent warm and sunny spell. “Wind and rain mid-week will be followed by a wintry mix of rain, sleet and hail showers for Friday and Saturday. There is certainly the chance of snow at the weekend, especially over the hills in the east and north of Britain.”

The freaky weather continued today as bright sunlight came out within a few minutes of the heaviest of the rain.

There were no reports of any problems caused by the weather - firefighters were not called to any flooding problems and police said that the weather was not a factor in any of three road accidents reported in the middle of the day.

See this site later for pictures from the storm.

If you have any pictures, e-mail them to suffolkpicturedesk@archant.co.uk