a day ago
Met Office issues amber thunderstorm warning for parts of eastern England
The warning has been issued for parts of East Anglia and eastern parts of East Sussex and Kent to last between 8pm on Friday until 5am on Saturday.
The Met Office warns that the storms could lead to road flooding, difficult driving conditions, power cuts and flooding of homes and businesses.
(PA Graphics)
Yellow thunderstorm warnings are also in place for much of southern and south-western England and Wales between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Steve Ramsdale, said: 'We are watching developments over northern France closely as thunderstorms develop in the warm, humid air over the continent.
'These thunderstorms are then expected to move into the south-east of England and East Anglia tonight (Friday night) bringing very frequent lightning, hail, and intense downpours of rain with gusty winds.
'The heavy rainfall could lead to surface water flooding, especially in urban areas. An amber severe weather warning has been issued for parts of the South East and East Anglia, where 30-50mm of rain could fall in a short period of time whilst the strong winds, hail and lightning could bring different impacts such as disruption to power supplies.
'Yellow thunderstorm warnings are also in place for large parts of southern England and Wales.
'While the warnings cover the areas of the country most at risk of seeing thunderstorms, not everyone within a warning area will experience a thunderstorm.
'For many, it will remain dry much of the time.'
A further yellow thunderstorm warning is in place stretching from eastern and southern Scotland, to northern and south-western England and Wales from midnight to 6pm on Saturday.
A Met Office spokesman said that temperatures were expected to peak on Friday with parts of eastern England expected to reach up to 29C with temperatures possibly staying as high as 16C, before cooler temperatures will arrive by Sunday.
Kumal, a male Jaguar cools off from the hot weather with a swim in the pool within his enclosure at Hertfordshire Zoo, Broxbourne (Gareth Fuller/PA)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued its first yellow heat-health alert of the year, running until 8am on Sunday in the east of England, East Midlands, London, and the south east.
Under UKHSA and the Met Office's Weather-Health alerting system, a yellow alert means there could be an increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people.
It may lead to an increase in risk to health for individuals aged over 65 or those with pre-existing health conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
