Londoners rejoice as first rain in weeks falls in capital

Londoners have been rejoicing after the first drops of rain fell in the capital in weeks.London has been baking in its fourth heatwave of the summer in recent days and has been experiencing its longest dry spell in years.London is among areas of England suffering from “flash drought” as a result of very low rainfall and high temperatures and is also under a hosepipe ban from Thames Water.With the exception of a small flurry of showers on July 5, the capital hasn’t seen a proper downpour in over a month, stretching back to June 27.So when a small amount of rain fell on Thursday evening in parts of the capital, people took to social media to celebrate, even with a touch of irony over how little fell.According to the Met Office’s rain tracker map, the first rain fall began over the southwest of the capital at around 5.30pm before beginning to drift over the south of the capital.However most saw very small amounts, with the majority seeing it falling at a rate of less than 0.5mm falling per hour. However there were reports of showers in some areas, including Croydon and Richmond.There is the chance of further rainfall in the coming hours and the early hours of Friday, before weather is predicted to be dry again until the middle of next week when light rain showers are expected every day for most of the the rest of the week.