Britain faces European monsoon with summer washout set to be one of the wettest on record

Heavy showers are expected to sweep across the country for the rest of month, according to climate experts.

Although less impressive than monsoons on the Indian subcontinent it this little-known climatic pattern has been blamed for yesterday downpours and thunder storms that caused chaos around the country.

The British summer: A man runs for cover today as waves lash Brighton's coastline

As traffic speeds across England slowed to a crawl, thousands were left stranded at Heathrow last night after 59 flights were cancelled due to the bad weather.

Passengers trying to fly back to the UK from central Europe were also grounded due to heavy rain in central Europe.

Coming on the back of wet, westerly winds rolling off the Atlantic, this rain disrupted the epic final between Nadal and Federer at Wimbledon and Lewis Hamilton battled the wet conditions at Silverstone to secure his victory in the British Grand Prix.

The Met Office warned of a ‘severe weather event’ with up to 40mm of rain falling in some northern areas.

Unseasonable storms batter the coast at Penzance, Cornwall

Parts of southern England were also badly affected, with some towns receiving half a month’s rainfall in just one hour.

In Wickham Brook, Suffolk, 20 millimetres of rain fell in 60 minutes - half the average July rainfall of 40 millimetres.

In Surrey, 50 firefighters were last night fighting fires in three residential properties that were struck by lightening.

Climatologists are unclear what causes this European monsoon, but it usually come in two bursts in June and July.

The Birdman competition fell victim to the weather, but it didn't stop the 'just for fun' competitors taking a leap of faith

The phenomenon happens to varying degrees in about seven out of 10 years and can be influenced by atmospheric changes elsewhere in the world.

Those factors include the shifting of the sub-tropical jet-stream from south of the Himalayas to north of the Tibetan plateau, early warming of the north Pacific Ocean and the disappearance of snow and ice from northern Canada.

Climatologists believe the European monsoon may become an increasingly noticeable summer event in future years because of global warming.

As Britain suffered another soaking, severe weather warnings were in place across parts of the country and forecasters predicted summer was all but over. 

Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen of Finland racing in wet conditions during the British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday

Dave Elliot, forecaster at the Met Office, said: ‘This year we”ve not had a prolonged warm, dry spell. We”ve had several nice days but not a couple of weeks at a time.

‘You have to go back to 2006 for a glorious summer, hot, dry and sunny.’

Major sporting events at the weekend were disrupted by the bad weather. Rain punctuated Rafael Nadal’s slow victory in the mens’ final at Wimbledon and Lewis Hamilton battled the wet conditions at Silverstone to secure his victory in the British Grand Prix.

Piers Corbyn, director of long-range forecasters WeatherAction, said: ‘This week is going to be thundery and showery and the following week will be terrible and the end of the month will be terrible. The rainy theme will continue through the summer. 

Brollies at Wimbledon: Spectators wait during a rain delay in the finals match between Nadal and Federer

‘The summer as a whole will be in the top five wettest on record, about as bad as last year which was absolutely terrible.’

However, as rain lashed down across much of the country holidaymakers were urged not to give up on the summer of 2008 completely.

Michael Dukes, forecast manager for MeteoGroupUK, said: ‘We are not saying that that’s it for the summer.

'There’s quite a lot of evidence that the second half of July is looking more promising, that the atmosphere may reorganise itself, and that there will be at least some decent spells of summer weather later this month.’

But he added: ‘There are lots of showers and thunderstorms around and it doesn’t look too good for the next few days.’