The “mother of all thunderstorms” has seen spectacular lightning and torrential rain roll over London and parts of the South East.

A Met Office warning of heavy thunderstorms played out in dramatic style on Saturday night as the skies exploded with light and sound over the capital and the Home Counties.

As the warm and humid Bank Holiday weather broke down into the “utterly intense” storm, many on social media shared stunning images of famous landmarks lit by flashes of electricity.

BBC weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker tweeted: “Mother of all #thunderstorms now over London. Oh boy! This UTTERLY INSANE. I’ve never seen a storm with such frequent lightning in my life I don’t think. Mostly sheet lightning and not too loud but flashes are spectacular.”

James Brewin captured the moment Big Ben and Westminster were illuminated by a flash of lightning, describing it as “London in daylight at midnight for a split second”.

Photographer and journalist Andrew Lanxon Hoyle shared an image of the Suleymaniye Mosque in Dalston, east London, lit from behind by a brilliant fork of lightning, tweeting: “The lightning storm over London right now is utterly INTENSE.”

Pamelasaurusrex shared a photo on Instagram of two people running for shelter outside King’s Cross Station as a lightning bolt arced across the sky over nearby St Pancras.

Samuel Wilkinson captured the split-second lightning shot toward the earth with The Shard skyscraper below, while the RNLI at Tower Bridge shared a photo of the view over the South Bank as the sky lit up.

#lightning in #London and #theshard. Just missed better luck next time.

A post shared by Samuel Thomas Wilkinson (@samueltwilkinson) on