Met Office issues thunderstorm weather warning after heatwave scorches Britain
Forecasters say parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland could see 'heavy showers and thunderstorms' on Wednesday evening and into Thursday. The Met Office is warning of potential disruption to roads and public transport during the wet weather, with as much as 50mm of rainfall possible in some areas.
It comes after scorching temperatures across the country on Monday and Tuesday, with some areas seeing the mercury climb above 33C in the hottest places.
The yellow weather warning is in place across swathes of Scotland including Aberdeenshire, Dundee, Edinburgh, East Lothian, and Glasgow from 2pm until midnight on Wednesday. A second thunderstorm follows immediately afterwards, covering much of central and eastern northern Ireland as well as Scotland until 10pm on Thursday.
Forecasters have said those living in the affected areas should be prepared for heavy rainfall, warning hail and gusty winds are also possible. They added drivers should prepare for 'difficult driving conditions' and some road closures due to the storms.
People have also been warned communities could become cut off by flooded roads, with those in areas prone to flash flooding advised to prepare a flood plan and emergency flood kit.
'Whilst most areas will remain dry, a few isolated to well-scattered heavy showers and thunderstorms could develop on Wednesday afternoon and evening,' the Met Office said. 'Where these occur, some places could receive 20-30 mm in less than an hour, with very localised totals in excess of 50 mm possible if storms repeatedly affect the same areas.
'The most intense thunderstorms could produce large hail and gusty winds.Showers and thunderstorms will tend to ease mid to late evening, but may linger over Orkney and the far north of mainland Scotland into the first part of the night.'
Forecasters said there was a 'slight chance' of power cuts causing loss of service to some homes and businesses. To prepare, they said people should 'consider gathering torches and batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items'.
People have also been warned of a potential 'danger to life' caused by a 'small chance of fast flowing or deep floodwater'.
The Met Office said heavy showers and thunderstorms were also expected to develop on Thursday morning. In the places that see the heaviest rainfall, 20-40 mm of rain could accumulate in less than an hour, according to forecasters.
'Further scattered heavy showers and thunderstorms are then likely to develop on Thursday afternoon and evening across portions of central and eastern Scotland in particular,' they said. 'These will be rather slow-moving, potentially giving isolated accumulations of 40-60 mm in an hour, with a higher likelihood of some impacts from surface water flooding.
'Showers and thunderstorms should slowly decay during the mid to late evening.'
Warm and sunny weather is forecast across much of the UK in the run up to the weekend, with London set to see highs of 29C on Wednesday and Thursday.
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