UK thunderstorm maps show 14 regions to be battered by lightning and heavy rain
Yellow weather alerts for thunderstorms and heavy rain have been issued across the UK, putting a brutal end to the country's heat spell. Britain's blue skies and scorching temperatures have quickly been replaced with stark warnings for heavy showers and thunderstorms which could result in travel chaos and even flash flooding.
More than a dozen regions have today (Monday, July 21) been included in the Met Office's weather warnings - which include two thunderstorm alerts and two 'rain' alerts. "Rainfall amounts will vary from place to place but 20-30 mm is likely within an hour in a few places, with a small chance of 40-50 mm in one or two locations; this most likely across southern Scotland and northern England," the Met Office states.
"Lightning strikes are also likely along with the potential for hail and gusty winds." Speaking exclusively with the Mirror, Jim Dale, the founder and Senior Meteorological Consultant at British Weather Services, says it's hard to predict the exact time the storm will batter Brits due to the erroneous nature of the 'random beasts. "This is very likely the last day of major thunderstorm risk for now," he added.
"But within that risk anything goes, including lightning strikes, hail, gusty winds, flash floods, and maybe -just maybe - the odd mini tornado. Most of us will inevitably miss them but if you happen to be in one of them expect any of the above and take cover."
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The first warning (labelled below as 1/2) , which is slated to last from 3am and is in place until 9pm, impacts England's south east, including Greater London, Kent, and Oxfordshire. This warning was updated at 10am and has actually shrunken in size as the Met Office removed parts of southern England from the yellow zone. The second warning (labelled below as 2/2), which started at 11am and is also in place until 9pm, impacts a much larger area of the country.
Yellow thunderstorm alert - full list of affected areas (1/2)
East of England
Bedford
Cambridgeshire
Central Bedfordshire
Essex
Hertfordshire
Luton
Norfolk
Southend-on-Sea
Suffolk
Thurrock
London and South East England
Bracknell Forest
Brighton and Hove
Buckinghamshire
East Sussex
Greater London
Hampshire
Kent
Medway
Milton Keynes
Oxfordshire
Portsmouth
Reading
Slough
Southampton
Surrey
West Berkshire
West Sussex
Windsor and Maidenhead
Wokingham
South West England
Swindon
Wiltshire
Yellow Thunderstorm warning - full list of affected areas (2/2)
Central, Tayside & Fife
Angus
Clackmannanshire
Dundee
Falkirk
Fife
Perth and Kinross
Stirling
East Midlands
Derby
Derbyshire
Leicester
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Northamptonshire
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
Rutland
East of England
Bedford
Cambridgeshire
Norfolk
Peterborough
Grampian
Aberdeenshire
Moray
Highlands & Eilean Siar
Highland
London & South East England
Buckinghamshire
Milton Keynes
Oxfordshire
North East England
Darlington
Durham
Gateshead
Hartlepool
Middlesbrough
Newcastle upon Tyne
North Tyneside
Northumberland
Redcar and Cleveland
South Tyneside
Stockton-on-Tees
Sunderland
North West England
Blackburn with Darwen
Blackpool
Cheshire East
Cheshire West and Chester
Cumbria
Greater Manchester
Halton
Lancashire
Merseyside
Warrington
SW Scotland, Lothian Borders
Dumfries and Galloway
East Lothian
Edinburgh
Midlothian Council
Scottish Borders
West Lothian
South West England
Gloucestershire
Swindon
Wiltshire
Strathclyde
Argyll and Bute
East Ayrshire
East Dunbartonshire
East Renfrewshire
Glasgow
Inverclyde
North Ayrshire
North Lanarkshire
Renfrewshire
South Ayrshire
South Lanarkshire
West Dunbartonshire
Wales
Conwy
Denbighshire
Flintshire
Gwynedd
Powys
Wrexham
West Midlands
Herefordshire
Shropshire
Staffordshire
Stoke-on-Trent
Telford and Wrekin
Warwickshire
West Midlands Conurbation
Worcestershire
Yorkshire & Humber
East Riding of Yorkshire
Kingston upon Hull
North East Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire
North Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
York
The Highlands have also been placed under a yellow weather alert for heavy rain. The warning will come into place at 3pm and is expected to last until 6am the following morning. Over in Northern Ireland, an existing yellow warning for rain is predicted to end at 6pm this evening.
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