After the driest May on record, the rain is back with a vengeance
The Anglia region enjoyed its driest May since weather records began in 1862 but flaming June has turned into downpour June as the rain keeps coming.
There was more rain in an hour on Thursday morning across East Anglia than there was during the whole month of May. And some places saw nearly as much rain in a day as usually falls during the whole of June.
East Anglia saw 4 mm (0.15 inches) of rain in May but in just an hour on Thursday morning, Stowe near Milton Keynes had 10 mm (0.4 inches).
Some parts of the Anglia region have seen more rain in a few hours on Thursday morning than normally falls during a fortnight in June.
In the 24 hours to 10am on Thursday, the weather station at the Broom's Barn agricultural research station near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk recorded 51 mm (2 inches) of rain. The average monthly rainfall for June there is 58 mm (2.3 inches)
How wet was it near you on Thursday morning?Rainfall totals in the six hours to 9am
25 mm at Tibenham, Norfolk
25 mm at Stowe, Buckinghamshire
24 mm at Santon Downham, Suffolk
20 mm at Higham near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
19 mm at Charsfield, Suffolk
17 mm at Wattisham, Suffolk
17 mm at Shoeburyness, Essex
17 mm at Woburn, Bedfordshire
15 mm at Marham, Norfolk
13 mm at Harpenden, Hertfordshire
The widespread rain across the area made the 24 hours to 10am on Thursday 18 June 2020 one of the wettest days recorded in the Anglia region in recent years.
Averaged across the region, there was a total of 26 mm (1 inch) of rain , which is nearly half of June's usual total in just a single day.
It was the wettest day in the Anglia region since 10th June 2019 when 27 mm (1.1 inches) of rain fell.
But since 2006 only five days have been wetter than Wednesday into Thursday including 27th May 2007 when an average of 37 mm (1.5 inches) of rain fell across the region.
Of course, individual sites across the region will have seen higher daily rainfall totals because the heaviest of extreme rainfall in the UK tends to fall in the form of showers or thunderstorms which can be highly localised.
That means the rain can fall in one area while it's completely dry just a few miles down the road.
Rainfall totals in the Anglia region in the 24 hours to 10am on Thursday 19 June 2020
51 mm at Higham near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
40 mm at Marham, Norfolk
38 mm at Harpenden, Hertfordshire
38 mm at Stowe, Buckinghamshire
35 mm at Santon Downham, Suffolk
32 mm at Shoeburyness, Essex
32 mm at Hitchin, Hertfordshire
31 mm at Woburn, Bedfordshire
30 mm at Cavendish, Suffolk
26 mm at Wattisham, Suffolk
23 mm at Charsfield, Suffolk
21 mm at Wittering, Cambridgeshire
21 mm at Braintree, Essex
19 mm at Sawtry, Cambridgeshire
18 mm at Cambridge
17 mm at Houghton, Norfolk
15 mm at Holbeach, Lincolnshire
14 mm at Bedford
10 mm at Weybourne, Norfolk
10 mm at Cromer, Norfolk