They're the two words every person who has ever had a birthday party, family reunion, hiking trip, wedding or just a good-hair day thrown to pieces by rain wants to hear: I'm sorry.

And while a BBC weatherman didn't issue his apology quite that succinctly, he did issue an on-air mea culpa for predicting sunshine when, instead, Londoners got rain.

"There are thunderstorms there which were not represented in our forecasts over the past couple of days or so," the BBC's Phillip Avery said Sunday afternoon. "I have to say we can't even blame the computers, the computers actually wanted to put those thunderstorms in there but forecasters thought that it wasn't supported by enough evidence and so we went for the dry, hot option."

"Having said that, apologies to anyone who has had their next few hours ruined," he said.

Avery was forced to do what no weatherperson ever wants to do after he and his team of BBC forecasters stuck to what they thought the weather would hold - dry sunshine - rather than what the highly detailed weather models released by the Met Office, the U.K.'s National Weather Service, predicted, rain and clouds.

By Sunday morning, thunderstorms began developing over the English Channel and thousands of Brits, notably BBC viewers, were left stuck in the rain, the U.K.'s Telegraph reported.

By Sunday afternoon, Avery issued his on-air apology, and by Sunday night the BBC issued a statement of its own to the British public.

"The weather team always endeavor to be open about forecasting and it was right to explain why today's forecast didn't capture weather events in some regions," a spokesman said. "This was done following discussions with Met Office colleagues."