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Atlantic Beach -- A funnel cloud hovered for a brief time over the Atlantic Ocean near Atlantic Beach Wednesday afternoon. The rare weather phenomenon could be seen for miles inland.
© shutterstock/ Frank L JuniorStrange lightning video recorded over Cologne Germany on June 9 2014.
© AGJMillsAn unusual cloud formation, known as Undulatus Asperatus, appears over the region amid downpour.
The "Undulatus Asperatus" clouds turned the sky dark during the unseasonal June weather. There were reports of localised flooding as heavy rain was interspersed with sunshine as the weather turned distinctly sour.
People were still recovering from Saturday's stormy weather when more storms hit Bridgnorth today.
The National Police Air Service, based at Halfpenny Green Airport near Bridgnorth, was set to be deployed to help to look for a missing person in the town. But the service had to be grounded due to lightning strikes around the airbase.
The storms also delayed the start of practice rounds for the PGA Euro Pro Tour at Astbury Hall Golf Course, near Bridgnorth.
Lightning bolts illuminate the sky as they strike near high voltage power lines in Sehnde, near Hanover. At least six people have died in western Germany as heavy rains, hail and high winds battered the region
* Police say two bicyclists were killed when hit by falling tree limbs in separate incidents in Cologne and Krefeld
* A man in Essen collapsed and died near midnight as he was working to clear debris from a street
* Storm front moved further northeast and there are weather warnings for regions including Hanover and Bremen
Heavy rains, hail and high winds have left at least six people dead in western Germany after violent storms battered the region.
In the North Rhine-Westphalia capital of Duesseldorf, police said two men and a woman who had sought refuge in a garden house were killed late Monday when a large tree fell on the building, the dpa news agency reported Tuesday.
Firefighters were able to rescue six others, who were taken to hospitals.
Lightning illuminates the sky as storm fronts move east near Soest. Many flights from Duesseldorf airport were delayed and some train routes were still closed today
While thunderstorms are typical in France during the summer, this storm outbreak has produced unusually large hail for the region, and it has hit Paris particularly hard.
As of Monday evening in France, Meteo France had posted an "Orange Alert" across west-central and northern parts of the country, with the threat of severe weather stretching northeastward into Belgium and the Netherlands. Meteo France is urging people to take "special vigilance" as the country faces yet another stormy night.
Visible satellite photo centered on France, showing bright white clusters of thunderstorms across northwest France and Belgium.
© East News/Shen shi - Imaginechina/FOTOLINK
Alerts were raised for southern and north-eastern China Saturday after the death toll reached 27 with two missing from this week's heavy rains.
Ten people died in the southern province of Guizhou and nine in the south-western city of Chongqing. Neighboring Sichuan province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region suffered three deaths each.
The National Meteorological Center warned students taking college entrance exams to leave home early to make sure they arrive on time, as up to 80 millimeters of rain was expected over the weekend in certain regions.
Hail, floods and landslides wreaked havoc across southern areas. The weather bureau also expanded its warnings to include northern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, as well as the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
If you thought news of a stormy, wet weekend was disappointing here's more grey news - weather experts believe that in some parts of the country, the start of 2014 has been the wettest on record.
While the Met Office is yet to release figures, more rain than ever has been recorded in Reading, Berkshire, in the first five months of the year, say experts at the town's university, where records go back to 1908.
"The start of 2014 has been the wettest first five months of any year on record," said meteorologist Dr Roger Brugge.
"Following the wet winter, spring (March to May) has also seen more rain than normal this year.
"At the University of Reading's observatory 194mm of rain fell - about 50% more than normal - also making it the wettest spring here for six years."
Comment: 2012 was England's 'wettest year ever':
Downpours make 2012 England's wettest year on record
The Met Office said yesterday that at 1,095.8 millimetres the average rainfall across England in 2012 had already breached the previous high of 1,093mm in 2000.And now, just two years later, the overall UK record for annual rainfall looks set to be broken.
With a further deluge expected over the final few days, it is also likely 2012 will be the third wettest in the UK as a whole since records began in 1910, and it still could be the wettest.
© STU MORANT/MERCURY PRESSA tornado sweeps through the midlands today as freak weather starts to hit Britain
As these terrifying pictures show, a series of fearsome twisters ripped through Lincolnshire this afternoon as experts insisted 'much worse' is to come over the next few days.
Geoff Hill, 54, who works near Market Rasen, photographed the tornadoes as the skies suddenly darkened around 3pm.
He said: "It was spotted by one of our store staff working outside looking up at the sky. Somebody rushed in and said there's a tornado.
"We rushed outside and I grabbed my camera and took a picture. I actually caught it on the second go because it had formed for five minutes before and then disappeared.
"Then it formed again and appeared for another five minutes."
Elsewhere, photographer Stu Morant caught amazing images of a rampaging tornado on camera near Crowle, near Scunthorpe, North Lincs, around 4.30pm.
© GEOFF HILL/MERCURY PRESSThis tornado was caught on camera this afternoon as it raged through the Lincolnshire countryside
© Twitter/@Jcow
Hailstones the size of baseballs pummeled the state with devastating effect Tuesday, producing a social media storm flooded with images of the aftermath of the freak hail, showing cracked windshields and houses riddled with holes.
© Unknown
Best of the Web: Signs of change: Video round-up of extreme weather and seismic activity in May 2014
Record flooding in the Balkans last month
Thanks for watching and stay safe! Have a plan in order!
Comment: All this following a record spring heatwave in May...
Beijing sees record high temperatures in May