Thunderstorms and heavy rain to persist, marking end of summer

Thunder and lightning, hail and rain struck various parts of the country on Saturday, including Luton, Bedfordshire, St Albans in Hertfordshire, and Cornwall, with heavy downpours in London, Wales and Birmingham. The autumn equinox takes place on Sunday, which marks the end of summer and the start of autumn.

A car in flood water on Aldridge Road in Perry Bar, Birmingham (Nick Potts/PA)

A weather warning for rain has come into force lasting all of Sunday for Wales and central south-west England, and another on Monday, stretching to cover areas further east and further north. Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said: "With Sunday marking the autumnal equinox summer has now officially come to an end, and it ended with a bang for some of us.

"We've seen some very heavy showers and thunderstorms spreading their way in across southern areas of England, into parts of Wales as well during the course of today. "This evening, those will continue to rumble their way on a bit, spreading again into parts of Midlands, Wales, then maybe just clipping the far south of Northern Ireland as well.

A thunderstorm in Cheltenham on Friday caused flooding (Sophie Wills/PA)

"Into the early hours of tomorrow morning we'll also see our next batch of thundery rain moving its way into southern areas of England as well." He continued: "We do then have a rain warning in force throughout Sunday for this band of rain that's going to be moving across Wales, central southern areas of England.

"Some very heavy pulses are possible with some surface water issues, travel disruption, so it is worth taking care if you are out and about or travelling during the day."