As temperatures plummet, thunderstorms have been forecast by the Met Office.
Heavy rain, lightning and hail is expected to hit parts of the UK over the coming weekend. A thunderstorm can be described as one or more sudden electrical discharges, manifested by a flash of light (lightning) and a sharp or rumbling sound (thunder).
Thunderstorms are associated with convective clouds and are most often, but not necessarily, accompanied by precipitation at the ground.
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The storms come after a balmy spell of weather over the past few days as temperatures reached 29C. According to the Met Office, hot weather causes surface water to evaporate into the atmosphere.
As the warm air continues to rise, the water droplets combine to create larger droplets which freeze to form ice crystals. As result of circulating air in the clouds, water freezes on the surface of the droplet or crystal.
Eventually, the droplets become too heavy to be supported by the up draughts of air and they fall. As the droplets move through the cloud, they pick up a negative charge by rubbing against smaller positively charged ice crystals.
The negative charge is attracted to the Earth's surface and other clouds and objects and when the attraction becomes too strong, the positive and negative charges come together, or discharge, to balance the difference in a flash of lightning (sometimes known as a lightning strike or lightning bolt).
The rapid expansion and heating of air caused by lightning produces the accompanying loud clap of thunder.
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