Heavy showers here now. Very humid .

Some impressive rumbles and cloudscapes coming off the Channel in south Dorset.

Feeling very close now and I've just heard a big deep boom in the distance so could be something looming.

Looking at Raintoday it looks as though a fair sized cell is going to get pretty close.

My daughters at uni of Southampton and telling me big thunderstorm with lightning there now 

Some serious intense cells across that way with rain rates in excess of 100mm p/hr 

One mother of a storm right overhead, plenty of fork lightning every couple of seconds, lovely stuff.

Intense storms stretching from Fordingbridge to Southampton.. I am 2 miles west of that and there is a lot of thunder and lightning but i am on the edge of the rain luckily as i dont want that sort of rain.

For northern England, this has all the hallmarks of previous disappointments - the time when things were supposed to kick off has passed and it's unlikely anything will happen now.

I'm not expecting any rain here until tomorrow.

Serious rain just started in Chichester (2010 hrs), and a few distant rumbles. Looking forward to a few flashes of lightning. Radar rain echoes heaviest just east of Portsmouth at this time (>32 mm/hr).

With these being elevated storms then timing with regard to insolation is not as important, but I suspect for the north it will be Cumbria into southern and eastern Scotland rather than central areas of N. England at most risk. 

Well that's what a thunderstorm should be, all flashing and lots of noise. I think the storm we have just had was the best I've seen in years, mostly all fork lightning and lots of it. If that storm is building then some are going to have quite a show further north.

The centre of the storm was quite violent with heavy rain and strong winds, also the temperature dropped off markedly and enough for me to put a coat on. Behind the storm the temperature has returned to what it was, warm and humid. A real classic that one.

Edit, forgot to say during the storm we had a brief power cut and the noise from the thunder set off plenty of car alarms.

At least we've got the first bust of the year out of the way. Plenty more to come too I suspect. 

Good to see someone at the MetO is awake and updating the warnings:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/warnings#?date=2018-04-21

Well once again, forecasts suggested my area might be a favoured spot for storms and yet again like last year it is slowly turning into another bust. 

"At risk" rather than favoured I would have thought, same as my location. A warning does not equal fruition. 

No I was referring to more detailed convective forecasts not severe weather warnings. 

I don't know any reputable agency that has favoured any location on a detailed convective forecast? Unless you are referring to the Other Side, in which case caveat emptor.