Living in central Bedfordshire on the edge of East Anglia, now subject to a long drought, repeated Met Office yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms in July were welcome. The gardeners with empty water butts were positively enthusiastic.
In a 10-day period when there were repeated yellow warnings, a large area of southern and eastern England was subject to an amber threat, with Leighton Buzzard firmly in the middle of the danger zone. To be fair it did rain during the amber alert – there were a series of small showers and one clap of thunder. Altogether, though, it was barely enough water to wet the parched ground.
Watching the weather forecasts on both the ITN and BBC late news during that period, the track of the storms repeatedly differed on the maps displayed by the two channels by 50 miles, and as much as 100, across Bedfordshire, Cambridge and eastwards.
It is clear that the forecasters were using different computer models and their summaries sensibly came with the warning “do not take the track of these showers literally” – just as their maps showed the storms drifting over Bedfordshire. Finally when the warnings ceased it rained hard in the middle of the night, when the “odd rogue shower” had been mentioned in passing. Relief at last.
