UK weather: Thunderstorms and heavy rain to hit Britain on hottest day of the year

2 June 2021, 06:47

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

The Met Office has released a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms this week.

Most of us have enjoyed some glorious sunshine over the past few days.

But it looks like things are set to take a turn for the worse today, with lightning and hail hitting many parts of the UK.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across southwest England and south Wales.

The alert is in place from 5am to 11am and forecasters have warned it could cause power cuts and train delays, as well as dangerous road conditions for commuters.

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Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill told The Sun: "The thunderstorms could bring lots of lightning, some hail, as well as some heavy rain, and with the half term there is an increased number of tourists in this area.

"The thunderstorms do then push north-eastwards into the Midlands and across more of Wales, but they also ease and break up, so these places will see some showers but they won't be as intense."

But Mr Burkill also added that the mercury on Wednesday is set to be even hotter than the Bank Holiday, with the possibility of it hitting 28C or 29C in some areas.

As we head into the evening, thundery showers move north, but these will soon clear up.

Thursday will see showers across northern areas fade, with cloud breaking up to allow sunny spells.

Scattered thunderstorms could still develop in some eastern parts of England where it will be very warm.

And the weekend is also looking good, with the Met Office predicting: “A lot of fine and dry weather, although a few thundery showers remain possible, mainly in the south east on Friday.

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“Temperatures a little lower nationwide Friday, but recovering into the weekend.”

The warm weather comes after Britain faced a very wet and windy May.

The UK had its fourth highest amount of rainfall on record for the month, with an average of 120mm falling, while England had its wettest May since 1967, with 111mm of rain.