Rain stopped play at Wimbledon on Thursday with a short, sharp thunderstorm. More bad weather is forecast this weekend, but it is far from a washout of a tournament. In fact, losing a whole day’s play to rain has happened 30 times in Wimbledon’s history since 1922.

In 1985 rain stopped play every day of the first week. On the opening day a thunderstorm rocked Wimbledon with a huge clap of thunder and a lightning strike that blasted a huge chunk of masonry off the main building. In the second week the Met Office’s newly installed rainfall radar revealed an approaching cloudburst. The forecaster Bill Giles phoned the tournament referee to give him warning, and although at the time the sky was cloudless, the courts were covered. A short while later a black cloud dropped a deluge of some 40mm (1.5in) rain in just 20 minutes, flooding the spectators’ and players’ tunnels on Centre Court with two feet of water.

This weekend a depression is aimed directly at the UK, but how much play will be rained off is not certain. This July, however, looks likely to remain unsettled at least until the middle of the month. And do not hold your breath waiting for a sustained heatwave — the year’s high of 28C (82F) recorded on Tuesday looks likely to remain unsurpassed for some time yet.