Weather should dry out in Aylesbury Vale this week but showers set to return by weekend

The past week has seen some very unsettled weather across southern parts of the UK and the Vale, with heavy rain and some thunderstorms. The reason for the unsettled weather has been low pressure positioned to the south of the UK, which has allowed cloud and outbreaks of rain to push northwards from the near continent.

Last Friday, a very potent and localised severe thunderstorm developed across east London and parts of Essex. The storm brought frequent lightning strikes and torrential rain, with evidence of tornadic activity. Barking and Dagenham Council reported that there had been severe weather damage, with amateur footage from the time showing damaged homes and dustbins flying through the air within the suspected tornado. Garden walls were knocked over with reports of flash flooding.

Tornadoes can be one of the most be violent and destructive types of weather phenomena, and form in unsettled weather as part of severe thunderstorms. They vary significantly in size and intensity and are associated with a rapidly rotating column of air which extends from the cloud base to the ground surface. Tornadoes occur all over the world, but they are most frequent across North America. Each year around 30-50 tornadoes are reported in the UK.

One of the most destructive tornadoes to ever hit the UK occurred in Birmingham in 2005. The tornado covered around 1km with wind speeds estimated to have reached 130mph. Thousands of homes and businesses were damaged with repair costs close to £40 million.

So how’s the weather shaping up for the rest of the week? The risk of heavy showers and thunderstorms should subside with some dry weather for a time, although low pressure looks to return from the west this weekend with risk of some longer spells of rain. Temperatures generally above the seasonal average.