A band of rain is sweeping London on Tuesday morning, forcing thousands of commuters to reach for their umbrellas before heading to work.

The wet weather moved across the capital overnight from the west, and is expected to linger into the early afternoon.

According to BBC Weather, the rain is intensifying as morning rush hour peaks between 8am and 9am.

Many have taken to X to complain about the wet conditions during their morning commute - while some welcomes the downpour following the record-setting hot and dry summer.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today, BBC Weather Centre forecaster Simon King described conditions as “really quite soggy”.

“We’ve had some rain overnight across England and Wales. It’s useful rain but it’s not significant rain to alleviate the drought situation for most of us.”

He said the rain will gradually work its way south-east before dry conditions return.

“The rain will be more stubborn to clear away in the far south-east,” he added.

Temperatures in London are predicted to peak at around 20C, according to the Met Office.

That's a sharp contrast with the 28C high over the capital on Sunday as heatwave conditions briefly returned to the capital.

The warm weather continued on Monday with 25C recorded in west London.

After Tuesday's washout, more settled weather is expected in London with largely dry days through to the weekend and temperature peaks of between 20C and 23C.

The outlook after that looks reasonably good for London. The Met Office's long-range forecast predicts "a trend toward some longer dry interludes between systems as we head toward mid-September", although a return of the dry, settled weather of the summer "looks unlikely".

Temperatures are expected to be "close to average overall".

"Temperatures will likely be a little above average overall, with relatively cool nights possible at first tending to reduce in frequency later in the period," it says.