Brits face “intense” thunderstorms, heavy rain and flooding today before temperatures rise back up to 32C over the weekend.
Temperatures rapidly dropped by more than 10% after the hottest day ever was recorded on Tuesday and the fresher conditions will continue today where it will remain in the teens for many parts and highs of 24C in the South East.
The UK recorded a new provisional high temperature of 40.3C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, on Tuesday, outstripping the previous record set in Cambridge in 2019 of 38.7.
And the mercury is likely to ratchet up again over the weekend with 31C or possibly 32C in East Anglia and the South East.
Before that the prediction is for a washout today with a Met Office yellow warning for thunderstorms in place from 10am until 10pm which covers the south west of England and southern Wales.
The Met Office warning states: “A few places could see slow-moving heavy showers and thunderstorms during Friday.”
People are told to expect: “Spray and sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures. Where flooding or lightning strikes occur, there is a chance of delays and some cancellations to train and bus services. There is a slight chance that power cuts could occur and other services to some homes and businesses could be lost."
Met Office forecaster Alex Deakin said: "Another cloudy day then for many on Friday and I suspect we will see some sunshine though particularly for Northern Ireland, by and large a fine day here, south west Scotland, parts of the south west of England and south Wales too - but also in this zone there is the potential for some pretty tasty storms to develop.
"We will see showers across the Midlands, spreading into northern England and southern Scotland during the day.
"As I said it is this zone here (in the South West) where we are a bit concerned we could see some very intense thunderstorms, not everywhere in the yellow warning area will see those downpours, some may remain completely dry but where they do occur it could cause some disruption, lot of rain falling in a short space of time.
"Local flooding is possible and certainly a lot of spray and surface water on the roads, parts of the M5 and M4 maybe not too clever. Those thundery showers will continue into the evening. Temperatures in the south getting into the low or mid 20s but further north we are mostly only looking at high teens at best."
UK forecast for the next 5 days
Rather cloudy. Rain in north, scattered heavy showers in south.
Today:
Rather cloudy for many with outbreaks of patchy rain and drizzle over central and northern parts of the UK. Scattered showers developing in the south will be locally heavy and slow moving with a risk of thunder.
Tonight:
The evening rain and thunderstorms fading with some cloud breaks then developing. Wind increasing in the far west later on.
Saturday:
Cloud and outbreaks of rain spreading east to affect northern and western areas, accompanied by brisk southwesterly winds. Dry and bright in the south and east and locally very warm.
Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:
Rain or showers Sunday, heaviest across the west and north. Further showers Monday then drier Tuesday. Breezy at times. Very warm in the south at first, otherwise temperatures around average.
