Ryanair passengers at Stansted Airport are suffering the fifth day of chaos with cancelled or delayed flights due to this morning’s storms that battered the country.
As of midday on Tuesday, around 64 arriving and departing Ryanair flights for the whole day were cancelled and a further 89 flights were delayed.
The airline blamed the disruption on thundery conditions, which are a drastic weather change from last week’s heatwave as the UK is facing a north/south weather split.
The south will be hit with sweltering conditions again by Friday as temperatures will climb throughout the weekend, hitting between 90F (32C) and 92F (33C).
Meanwhile, northern parts of the country will continue to see showers with temperatures sitting at a mild 77F.
Ryanair passengers at Stansted Airport are suffering the fifth day of chaos with cancelled or delayed flights due to morning storms that battered the country
The airline blamed the disruption on thundery conditions, which are a drastic change from last week’s heatwave as the UK is facing a north/south split in the weather
Passengers complained of being left on planes for hours and said they were given no updates
At Stansted, passengers reported long queues, a lack of information and sitting on planes that had not moved for several hours
At Stansted, passengers reported long queues, a lack of information and sitting on planes that had not moved for several hours.
Passenger Jakub Soszka tweeted of delays after he was still apparently stuck on a Ryanair plane waiting for four hours to take off.
He wrote: ‘We are stuck in fr8545 plane at Stansted for over 4 hours now, how come a flight fr145 that has been scheduled two hours after ours to the same destination has already departed and we are still waiting in Stansted?’
Steve Place said: ‘Thanks Ryanair. You know how to ruin people don’t you? Only flight from Biarritz to Stansted cancelled. How do I get home? How do I get to work?’
And Haze W added: ‘We have been stranded at Lisbon for almost 24 hours. Utter shambles. Hope we can get back to Stansted today. Ryanair should be fined and closed down.’
A spokesman for Ryanair, which has its largest base at London Stansted, said: ‘Due to thunderstorms in Stansted today, Ryanair have been forced to cancel a number of first wave flights to/from Stansted.
‘The knock-on effect of this and ATC staff shortages may cause further disruptions throughout the day, including delays and cancellations.’
Storms battered Britain as commuters battled to work through heavy downpours and flooding this morning. Pictured: Commuters on High Street Kensington on Tuesday
A bolt of lightning was seen cracking in the sky above Maidstone on Tuesday morning
The heavy, thundery rain will continued throughout the morning and cleared up before lunchtime, as temperatures could hit 79F (26C) in the south of the country
The rainy conditions on Tuesday and over the weekend are a ‘drastic change’ from the country’s recent heatwave.
A spokeswoman for the Met Office said last night: ‘In terms of the weekend just gone, they were the first two days this month where temperatures haven’t reached 25C (77F).’
She explained that over the next few days there will be something of a north and south split – high pressure is already starting to build up in the south, bringing dry, fine and weather.
The forecaster warned: ‘Southern England and Wales are going to turn quite hot by Friday – temperatures will probably reach 30C (86F) by that point.
‘This is likely to include quite a wide area across the southern part of the UK – it will widely hit 30C (86F) across southern England and Wales, and the very hot weather will return as we approach the weekend.’
But the UK is facing a north/south split as northern parts of the country will see wet and windy conditions. Pictured: A woman shields herself from the rain on High Street Kensington
People took to social media to comment on the thunderstorms, with several wishing for the heatwave to return
The north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland can expect outbreaks of much-needed rain on Tuesday, Wednesday and in to Thursday.
The spokeswoman said: ‘It’s a more varied picture across the north but it’s an improving situation – sunshine with some showers and a similar story across the weekend.
‘By Friday the temperatures could get into the mid 20s, so warming up, just not as hot as it is in the south.’
The weather broke on Friday, treating the parched landscape to a deluge of rain.
It meant this July will be wetter than the blistering heatwave of July 1976.
An average 49.9mm of rain fell across the UK from July 1 to July 29, according to provisional figures from the Met Office, and with further rain expected this week, the final total could be higher.
The total for the whole of July 1976 was 43.3mm.
The UK suffered a long heatwave during the summer of 1976, which helped make July 1976 the joint ninth driest on record.
Currently, July this year is the 13th driest on record, the Met Office said.
The driest ever July was in 1955, when an average of 30.6mm rainfall was measured across the UK.
UK climate is warming with 2017 fifth hottest year, Met Office says
UK’s warmest years graphic
Last year was the fifth warmest for the UK in records dating back more than a century, the Met Office has confirmed.
Figures show the UK climate is warming, with average temperatures over the last decade around 0.8C above the 1961 to 1990 average, while the country has also seen 8% more rain and 6% more sunshine.
The annual state of the UK climate report also revealed that, in contrast to this summer, UK summers have been notably wetter over the last decade from 2008 to 2017, with 20% more rainfall compared to 1961-1990.
Nine of the 10 hottest years in the UK have happened since 2002.
