August monsoon (part II)

First we basked under summer sunshine as temperatures as high as 31C sent us flocking to pub gardens, parks and beaches.

Then on Sunday we sweated uncomfortably in our beds as we endured the hottest night on record.

But last night and this morning the rain returned with a vengeance as the topsy-turvy world of British weather continued to defy prediction. What is going on?

As more rain was forecast for today and the next few days, the finger of blame for all this meteorological madness was pointed at an unlikely source.

According to some forecasters the remains of Hurricane Alex, which has crossed the Atlantic, are responsible for the freak tropical weather broiling and battering Britain.

Huge amounts of heat and moisture have combined to create several days of weather more suited to tropical monsoon climates than a British summer. Forecasters were today warning of localised flooding in the South, with heavy downpours throughout the morning pushing north. Much of London, Kent, Surrey and Berkshire were swamped by overnight storms.

The Met Office has issued several severe weather warnings covering much of the country, from North-West England to the South-East.

"Some prolonged and torrential downpours are expected, making driving dangerous at times, with excess water leading to localised f looding," said a Met Office spokesman today.

Andrew Bond, of independent weather forecaster Metcheck, said: "These tropical systems bring a huge amount of energy with them and there is a lot of moisture and a lot of heat and it eventually has to go bang."

Sunday night was the warmest on Met Office records for several areas across Britain. In London temperatures reached a high of 26C (79F) at 2am, almost as hot as the daytime temperature in Morocco. That followed one of the warmest weekends of the year, with highs of 31C (88F) in London and parts of Kent.

Despite more heavy rain overnight and today, temperatures are set to remain warmer than average.

But the storms are likely to continue into the weekend, followed by sunshine and light showers.

Now, did you pack the bucket, spade, suncream, wellies, raincoat, umbrella...