The Met Office have issued an official weather warning for “heavy showers and thunderstorms” on Wednesday afternoon, with the Glastonbury site included in the warning area. Half a month’s rain could hit the festival over just one or two hours.
The yellow weather warning runs from 12 noon to 7 pm tonight with areas hit by storms potentially facing “some flooding and disruption”. It’s currently impossible to predict exactly where the storms will occur so there’s still a chance any downpours will completely miss the festival.
The full warning reads: “Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to break out from late morning. Many places will miss these, but where they do occur, 20-30 mm rain may fall in 1-2 hours. Showers and thunderstorms will mostly die out by early evening.”
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Despite heavy rain early on Tuesday, ground conditions at Glastonbury are said to remain quite good with only a few patches of mud on the busiest sections of paths and tracks.
Anyone inside a tent during a thunderstorm is advised to stay away from any metal poles. The Met Office said: “If you find yourself in an exposed location it may be advisable to squat close to the ground, with hands on knees and with head tucked between them. Try to touch as little of the ground with your body as possible, do not lie down on the ground”
If you feel the hair on your head stand on end during a thunderstorm, you could be at immediate risk of a direct lightning strike. If this happens, drop to the position described above immediately.
On Tuesday, the Met Office issued this forecast for the rest of Glastonbury 2023: “With many people heading to Glastonbury ahead of the weekend festival, the forecast is set fair for much of the weekend.
“With many people arriving on Thursday, there’s small chance of some residual showers during the day, though things look to be more settled for the weekend. Friday should see a good deal of dry, sunny weather, with temperatures likely to peak around 25C.
“There’s an isolated chance of a short shower in the day on Saturday, but the forecast is for a predominantly dry and warm day, with temperatures remaining relatively high overnight. It’s a similar theme on Sunday, with Glastonbury expected to see little in the way of showers and some good periods of very warm sunshine.”
Back in 2014, thunderstorms near the festival meant power was turned off across the site for safety reasons. This interrupted Rudimental’s set on the Pyramid Stage and meant some artists, like Beans on Toast below, played their set without any amplification. Something similar happened at Parklife 2023, less than two weeks ago, when a thunderstorm on the Sunday afternoon, complete with a torrential downpour, forced the whole festival to be stopped for around 40 minutes.
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