7 August 2002

Synoptic situation

There were heavy showers and thunderstorms over much of the UK on the 7 August 2002, with the London and north of London areas particularly affected by thunderstorms during the late afternoon and evening.

The intense rainfall from these storms and the high rainfall values over the last few weeks, led to travel chaos and localised flooding.

Rainfall table - 7 August 2002

The following table, consists of the data which were available from our real time network on the 13 August 2002, and shows the highest hourly and two hourly totals on the 7 August 2002.

Olney reported 58 mm in a one hour period, giving a return period in the order of 200 years, with 33 mm of this falling in a 30 minute period. Putney Heath reported 18 mm in a 15 minute period.

The average August 1961-1990 rainfall map can be found here.

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Radar imagery
	30 minute radar imagery from 7 August 2002. View a larger version
Please note: The empirical relationship between radar reflectivity and rainfall rate is fixed whereas in reality this is highly dependent on precipitation type and is very different for rain and hail.

ATD animation
	A loop showing hourly lightning strike frames over the UK from 12:00 to 22:00 7 August 2002. View a larger version

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