A yellow weather warning for heavy rain has been issued for a large part of the UK.
The Met Office warning covers the East of England, South East, East Midlands, West Midlands, South West, London and parts of Wales.
The warnings of heavy showers, which could also be thundery, are in place from 9pm on Wednesday until 9am on Thursday.
There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly, according to the warning, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.
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The conditions could lead to fast-flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life. There is also a chance of delays and some cancellations of train and bus services.
In the alert, the Met Office said there is “some uncertainty” and not all areas will be affected, but “scattered heavy showers on Wednesday evening may merge into longer spells of heavy, showery rain” overnight.
“Where heavy downpours occur, perhaps thundery in places, accumulations of 20-40mm are possible in an hour or two, with the small chance of isolated accumulations over 50mm, potentially impacting the Thursday morning commute in some areas,” they said.
It comes as the Met Office said the UK had its coolest summer since 2015, after years of persistently hot and dry weather.
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Using provisional data, the weather agency said the mean temperatures for both June and July were below average, largely due to northern winds bringing down cold Arctic air.
August enjoyed slightly above-average temperatures because of a switch to dominant westerly winds bringing slightly warmer Atlantic air to the UK.
While England only experienced weather 0.07C below the average mean daily temperature (the average across 24 hours), in Scotland and Northern Ireland it was down 0.4C and 0.45C respectively.
Source Agencies
