A yellow weather warning for heavy showers and thunderstorms has been issued by the Met Office which advises that flooding and damage could be caused by storms.
An area from Dorset to Kent, stretching as far north as Worcester and across to East Anglia, is covered by the warning which was listed to last until 10pm on Tuesday but has now been extended until 3am on Wednesday.
A second yellow warning of heavy rain has also been issued for parts of County Down and Armagh in Northern Ireland until 5pm on Tuesday.
The Met Office has warned that driving conditions could be affected by spray, standing water and hail, leading to longer car and bus journey times.
It has also advised of the likelihood of “some flooding of a few homes and businesses, leading to some damage to buildings or structures, especially across the south-east of the area where highest rainfall i most likely”.
And the forecasters have also advised of the possibility of damage to buildings from lightning strikes, causing possible delays to train services and causing short-term power loss.
Meteorologist Liam Eslick said: “We are looking to see quite a lot of rainfall with 20mm-30mm in two to three hours but there could be some very heavy bursts with 40mm-50mm falling over a longer period of time.
“We are expecting to see not just rain, we are expecting some hail and quite a lot of thunder, a lot of these showers could turn thundery as they combine together and become larger systems.
“So we are expecting thundery outbreaks and quite gusty conditions, it’s a pretty hefty system across the south.”
