Heavy rain and thunderstorms are on the way this week

The Met Office has issued National Severe Weather Warnings for thunderstorms across large parts of the UK on Wednesday, where heavy and slow-moving downpours could lead to flooding and disruption in places, and then for rain in the south on Thursday.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist Neil Armstrong said, “Although some places will miss these heavy showers and thunderstorms, where they do occur they’ll be quite lively bringing torrential downpours with 25 to 35mm rain falling in an hour and a few places seeing perhaps 40 to 50mm rain in a couple of hours.

“With this heavy rain falling in a short time we could see some disruption to transport or damage to properties due to localised flooding, as well as the chance of lightning and hail.”

Away from the heavy showers and thunderstorms there will be some bright spells this week and it’ll feel warm in the sunshine, with temperatures into the low 20’s Celsius for many. However eastern areas of the UK will often be cooler and cloudier, especially coastal parts of eastern Scotland and east England.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Deputy Chief Meteorologist Martin Young said, “As winds swing to the southwest over the weekend it’ll turn fresher and breezier and east coastal areas should lose the low cloud and mist, feeling warmer here as a result. On Saturday we’ll see a spell of rain moving across the UK from the west, but most can expect a drier day on Sunday.”

On next week’s weather, he said: “There are signs of a spell of warm and settled weather across southern parts of the UK next, with temperatures quite widely reaching mid-20s Celsius. It’ll be unsettled across north-western areas with temperatures closer to average.”