A STORM alert has been issued for parts of Hampshire today.

Weather forecasters have issued a yellow warning for the county for later today.

They say we should be prepared for thunder storms for this afternoon.

That means that both the annual Romsey bed race through the town this event may be affected by rain.

A statement from the Met Office this morning said: “Heavy showers and thunderstorms will develop across south eastern parts of England this afternoon, lasting into the evening.

“Whilst some places will miss the heaviest showers, where torrential downpours occur large amounts of rain could fall in a relatively short space of time.

“Heavy showers are expected to break out this afternoon and persist into the evening.

“Due to light winds, some of these showers are likely to be slow-moving leading to some localised prolonged, torrential thundery downpours which could give 20-25 mm of rain in a relatively short space of time and close to 40 mm in two or three hours.

“The heaviest showers are most likely during the mid to late afternoon and early evening, so are likely to coincide with the rush hour.

“As is often the case in sort of situation, some places will miss the showers whilst nearby locations experience heavy downpours and the exact location of where the heaviest showers occur is very uncertain.”