Thunderstorm warnings issued

As high pressure, which has brought the recent spell of settled weather, pulls away to the north the weather turns wetter, particularly for the southern half of the UK. Friday and the weekend will see heavy showers and thunderstorms develop across southern areas. Yellow National Severe Weather Warnings for thunderstorms have been issued for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Jason Kelly said: "Thundery downpours have developed across parts of southern England, and will last into Friday evening, bringing frequent lightning, gusty winds, hail, and spells of heavy rain. The risk of thunderstorms persists into the weekend with potentially longer spells of heavy rain for some along with a continued risk of hail and lightning accompanying the most intense storms. Parts of the Midlands, southern England and east Wales appear at greatest risk of seeing these conditions.

"The warnings cover the areas of the country most at risk of seeing thunderstorms but not everyone within a warning area will experience a thunderstorm. For many much of the time it will remain dry."

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Dan Harris added: "The area of persistent and at times heavy rain that we are expecting to have developed by the end of Sunday will most likely continue for some parts of southern UK through at least the first part of Monday, before starting to clear eastwards. By this time however, confidence falls sharply in terms of both its exact location, and rainfall amounts. We are keeping a further warning for Monday under review, so please keep up to date with the latest forecast for your area."

This change to more unsettled weather will also see a downturn in temperatures beginning in the far north particularly as we head into the early part of next week.

Further Ahead

We are expecting a window of quieter conditions for many places on Tuesday before wet and windy, 'autumnal', weather once again moves across the UK from the North Atlantic.

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