Essex is set for a soaking on Saturday – and the threat of large thunderstorms has forced the Met Office to issue a weather warning.
The yellow 'be aware' warning, which covers not only Essex but also the East of England and much of the UK, urges people to take care as "torrential downpours are possible with frequent lightning, large hail and locally strong gusts".
The warning, which was issued at 10.44am today and is valid from 12.05am Saturday and valid until 11.55pm that night, continued: "Significant flooding is possible where these do occur from surface water as well as small, fast responding watercourses."
The alert is valid the day after Essex is set to see the mercury rising to a scorching 29C.
The weather agency's chief forecaster, speaking of the reason behind the thunderstorms, said: "Following a build of very warm and humid air from mid-week onwards there is the potential for the development of large thunderstorms over the UK from Friday night.
"In this situation large amounts of energy are available in the atmosphere and this coupled with high moisture content can lead to torrential downpours along with frequent lightning activity, large hail and locally strong gusts.
"In this situation many elements need to come together at the same time to form these thunderstorms and so there remains large uncertainty in their development."
The forecaster said that it was likely the alert is therefore likely to be updated in the coming days.
