The airport said in a statement issued at around 3.30pm on Tuesday that “severe storms” across the south east had forced air traffic control to implement fresh restrictions on the Essex hub.

It comes just hours after normal operations resumed at the airport following a serious thunderstorm on Saturday night into Sunday morning (May 26-27).

“Due to the Air Traffic Control restrictions caused by severe storms across the south east, flight delays and cancellations are to be expected,” said Stansted.

“Please check the status of your flight with your airline before arriving at London Stansted airport. Passengers who do not have a confirmed booking for a flight today, or if their flight has been cancelled, are asked not to travel to the airport.”

https://twitter.com/STN_Airport/status/1001471700851142660

Ryanair confirmed a number of its flights had been cancelled.

“Due adverse weather conditions around Stansted some flights are currently experiencing delays and we regret we have been forced to cancel a small number of flights,” said the airline in a statement.

“Further delays are likely and customers can monitor the latest flight information on the Ryanair website. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this weather disruption, which is entirely beyond our control, and we are working hard to minimise the disruption to our operations.”

https://twitter.com/Ryanair/status/1001470515951915014

The Met Office, meanwhile, has issued a yellow warning of rain and thunder for south east England, which came into force at 2am on Tuesday and will remain active until 6am on Wednesday (May 30).

The forecaster said the peak period would be Tuesday evening into Tuesday night, with a risk of lightning strikes, localised flooding and power cuts.

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1001458297780817920

“Rain will be heavy and up to around 30mm could fall in an hour or less and 40mm to 50mm could fall in a couple of hours, leaving flooding a possibility,” said the Met’s chief forecaster.

“The heaviest rain is likely from Tuesday afternoon with the most widespread heavy rain probably during the late evening and early hours of Wednesday.”