Yeh definitely.... we sat under several much bigger storms last year with only a yellow warning for a few days at a time.

We had sever flooding, hail and tornado activity (the best thunderstorms of my life) it also covered a large proportion if not all of North west England.

Im hoping this isnt a case of South eastern sensitivity as we have seen countless times before... but I do hope this is the way warnings will be handled going forward... Ive always thought the threat of thunderstorms and what they can do to land and property far out weighs 3 inches of snowfall or strong winds. 

The damage they can do is often underplayed/under stressed.  Then next thing you know theres water coming into your car and peoples garden walls are falling down.

Thaxted, Essex

Bit of hail where I live then 😬#itstheendoftheworldasweknowit pic.twitter.com/QUl6v46fa5

— Neil Brooks (@hatterneil) July 20, 2021

Stuck a couple in the freezer as it goes (as you do 😁) pic.twitter.com/THC8zeIiEl

— Neil Brooks (@hatterneil) July 20, 2021

I seem to remember reading somewhere that they had updated their forecasting to allow them to forecast local weather more accurately after they updgraded their hardware recently so it could be that

I had noticed this on the longer range outlooks (next 2-3 days) as well where thet are pinpointing the shower activity more specifically

I am not sure if they are forecasting more accurately so much as actually watching the radar and issuing warnings immediately once cells fire up.

Impressive long lived thundery downpour this pm in South Cambs.

Reminded me I haven't cleared my guttering in a long while

Just been out to set up a sump pump to drain my front garden.

Same old chip. Couldn't be further from the truth. In fact I'm amazed what we've had in S.E Essex this afternoon hasn't been on the main news.I am 71 years old and have just witnessed the most devastating torrential rain and hail in this area since I was a child. The only time I've seen hail like that was in Sydney, Australia. I recorded 14mm of rain in 15 minutes and that is an underestimate as most bounced out such is the severity.  My road was like you could go white water rafting down it. Hail stones bombarding down for 15 minutes, most over a cm in diameter. My daughter's neighbour's house filled with 2 foot of water. Roads closed and I saw a river of water flowing out from somebody's garage. Spoke to the fireman and he said they couldn't cope and the devastation was widespread. Many roads blocked and branches and debris everywhere. I suspect it didn't make the News as all happened around 4.30pm.

Large hail, strong winds, frequent lightning and torrential rains. Reports on metoffice twitter of close to 45mm of rainfall in under 30 minutes from those storms near Leicestershire. Definitely worthy of the Amber warnings. 

Heavy rain and thunder as that cell approaches from the north, getting very dark

My brother reported storms in Letchworth and here nothing but broken up storms clouds came here and now clearing away.   Very warm 23C now.  So many reports of storms in NW storm thread and all seem from Northampton to Kent to eastern area are effected.  

Heard a lot of rumbling thunder earlier this evening coming from a spectacular storm cloud just to the south of me.  Looks like it hit the Saxilby/Lincoln area before dissipating.

Yes they issued the yellow warning ahead of time. But what seems to be new is the amber overlay once storms actually form. 

BTW here is quite an impressive video of hail in Essex. https://twitter.com/charlottehuzzey/status/1417526194103328768?s=21 

Yes, these are typically low-based direct convective type storms, formed from strong surface heating usually peaking around 4 pm. There is strong diurnal variation with these storms, once the land cools convection stops. The air aloft must have been quite dry if I'm correct, aiding quick evaporation & dispersal. No direct convection occurs over the much cooler seas & the windward coasts continues to enjoy prolonged sunshine (but could also be foggy), whilst massive Cu con & Cb clouds tower inland.

On contrast, high base Spanish plume type storms are generally not formed from direct convection, but rather when the lower, humid troposphere becomes overheated during prolonged heatwave, & the cold air aloft starts making inroads from the Atlantic where the hot lower troposphere starts to convect into. Similarly, high base storms also occur when a tongue of hot, humid lower troposphere intrudes into areas of cold upper troposphere.

These storms show little diurnal variation. In fact the convective activity tends to peak on average about midnight. They can also develop over cool seas, even in foggy conditions, latter giving rather bizarre experience.

Yes that was very short-lived and isolated over the Bishops Waltham area. The cell was clearly visible from here.

Meanwhile AcCas banks around. Risk of storms again later today

It was remarkably fast in both development & dissipation. I went to a shop with blue skies and a few AC on horizon, but 20 minutes later a towering anvil (bigger than picture portrays). I subsequently popped into lidl and by the time i came out the whole thing had broken apart.

Poky cell looks to have developed over northern parts of Greater Manchester