Shirtless paddleboarder ignores hailstorm battering Twickenham as he cruises along Thames

Shirtless paddleboarder ignores hailstorm battering Twickenham as he cruises along Thames

This is the amusing moment a shirtless paddle boarder ignored an unseasonal summer hailstorm battering Twickenham as he cruised along the Thames yesterday evening (Aug 12).

The watersports enthusiast was caught up in the driving rain which battered south west London following soaring temperatures earlier in the day.

Instead of panicking as the deadly river was lashed with balls of ice, he kept calm and paddled on - to the amazement of residents watching from nearby homes.

Onlooker Ruth Wadey said: ''I would not have wanted to have been on a paddleboard during the huge thunder and hailstorm we had at Twickenham.'' Residents said the extreme weather appeared suddenly ''out of nowhere'' following soaring hot temperatures earlier in the day.

''There was wind, horizontal rain, hail... and for a glorious moment cool air,'' said another local who recorded the summer storm from his home in Richmond.

Other residents in Twickenham reported similar freak weather downpours.