Freak hailstorm hits Birmingham as the city braces for five days of rain

A freak hailstorm hit Birmingham city center this afternoon, dramatically ending any sign of good festive weather. The city came to a standstill just after 2pm as huge balls of hail lashed pavements and cars in the freak weather event.

Until this afternoon, Birmingham was set with patches of rain and cloud, so it was a sudden change for the Brummies, who will have put their umbrellas to good use. Car alarms were heard ringing across the city as huge hailstones landed around cars, forming clumps of white ice, and videos shared on social media showed the city center covered in showers of freezing rain.

A supermarket shopper described “heavy hail” hitting the roof of a city car park and having to rush through the freak hailstorm to get home. And things are set to get wetter with five days of rain in a row forecast for Birmingham by the Met Office.

READ MORE: Hour by hour weather forecast for Sunday as an alert from the Met Office

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The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for Sunday, May 26, with heavy and slow showers and thunderstorms for much of Sunday and flooding likely in some parts. Read more about this alert here.

Periods of heavy rain will follow for the rest of the week until Friday, May 31. The Met Office forecast for the rest of the week for Birmingham said: “Remain changeable with periods of rain or showers, heavy at times. A few brighter spells, mostly Wednesday and Thursday and feeling warm in the sun at times.

Hourly Birmingham forecast for Sunday

• 15:00 – 16C

• 16:00 – 16C

• 17:00 – 15C

• 18:00 – 15C

• 19:00 – 15C

• 20:00-14C

• 21:00 – 13C

• 22:00 – 12C

• 23:00 – 12C