Frontal rains are very different to convergent thunderstorms so deserve their own page, especially some of the depressions that have hit London over the years.

1809 The River Lea burst its banks following a deluge that dumped 50mm of rain in 24 hours. The rain followed a rapid thaw of deep snow leading Luke Howard to write: “The various channels… were united in one current above a mile in width”.

1824 The River Lea again burst its banks in the Stratford area in May of this year leading to an ‘inland sea’ forming on nearby marshland. Some 74mm of rain over 3 days sent flood waters rising to record levels.

1903 Perhaps the most notable fall of rain occurred in June 1903 when a record-breaking 59-hour deluge turned large swathes of Redbridge and surrounding boroughs into an inland lake. Rainfall records from that event still stand over 110 years later.