Yorkshire pounded by hailstones – and more storms are on the way

A day of extreme weather in the UK has seen hailstones the size of sweets fall in some areas and others having a month’s worth of rain in four hours.

People across North Yorkshire were pounded by hailstones as a summer storm swept through the county, forcing those trying to enjoy some fresh air to run for cover.

Gareth Walls, of Ripon, posted a clip of the hailstones pounding down on his car on Tuesday afternoon.

He tweeted a picture of one of the hailstones, saying: “The hail was like pickled onions.”

Farmer Andrew Loftus, from Masham, said some of the hailstones were almost an inch across.

He posted a picture of a toy digger on a blanket of white with the words: “My son’s digger has its work cut out with these hailstones!”

A spokesman for the Met Office said the unsettled weather was down to a band of low pressure coming up from the South West, leading to heavy downpours in some parts.

Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales had 82.2mm of rain in 24 hours, the majority in the space of four hours. The monthly average in the area for this time of year is 89mm.

Gorslas in South Wales saw 34.2mm of rain, while Dartmoor and Exmoor had 36mm.

Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said: “Some of the storms across the north of England have had some big hailstones because the air is so unstable  – conditions are perfect for generating big thunderstorms.

“There’s low pressure that’s dominated coming up from the South West and that’s helping to generate these showers.”

He added that the unstable conditions would continue for the next 24 to 36 hours, particularly in the north of England and Scotland.

The Met Office has put out a yellow rain warning for the north of England all day on Wednesday, with a yellow storm warning for Wednesday afternoon and evening in Scotland.

Showers are likely to continue in northern and eastern parts of the UK into the latter half of the week, but in Wales, Northern Ireland and the South of England it will turn drier and brighter.

Mr Petagna said: “There’s going to be no return of the extreme heat seen last week for a while – while things are going to improve over Thursday and Friday they are going to turn unsettled again during the weekend.”

Showers are expected across the UK, with the South expected to see sticky, humid conditions with temperatures peaking at 27C (80.6F).

“When the sun comes out it could become quite warm in the South – nothing like last week but still a few degrees above average,” Mr Petagna said.