Many breathed a sigh of relief as rain poured down on parts of the region for the first time in 50 days – but what does the next week have in store for Suffolk and north Essex?
People across East Anglia are waking up to a quintessentisally English combination of gloomy skies and scattered drizzle, following a hotly-anticipated weekend of thundery showers and fresher temperatures.
The rain, which many believed would never return, brought relief to farmers and gardeners across the region – many of whom have suffered nearly two months of uncommonly dry weather.
But after just two days of fairly consistent showers, forecasters are now predicting yet another dry spell – and Mediterranan-style temperatures to match.
Dan Holley, forecaster for Weatherquest, said we will now “start to bring the summer back”, with rain clearing up at the start of the week, and temperatures in the region of 30C returning on Thursday.
“We have got showers currently over Kent running their way north east,” he said. “Overall by the afternoon the showers are more isolated.”
He added that the risk of catching a shower is closer to the coast.
Temperatures are also set to soar, starting today, as last week’s bout of low pressure begins to dissipate.
“It is going to gradually warm up,” Mr Holley said. “Most places yesterday struggled to get past 20C. [Today] 25C or 26C is certainly doable. From Thursday onwards most days we are going to be hitting 29C or 30C.”
The wind will also die down, with conditions “breezy today but not as blustery as yesterday”.
Mr Holley added that thundery showers heading towards Essex between 5am and 6am tomorrow morning may pose some problems for motorists during the rush hour.
However we are unlikely to see the amount of lightning that struck Suffolk during Friday’s thunderstorms, with heavy rain the main feature of the morning.
“Once those heavy thundery showers have cleared by about 10 in the morning, we are pretty much dry for a few days,” Mr Holley said. He added that there may be isolated showers on Friday afternoon, but many places would be unaffected.
When asked when we will next see thunderstorms sweep the region, Mr Holley said: “Apart from isolated showers, I am not seeing anything jumping out at the moment.”
He added that Monday and Tuesday of next week may see wetter weather, but this will again clear as the week goes on.
“It is back to square one,” he said.
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