Hottest day of the year but torrential rain lashes parts of the north

While most of the UK soaks up the sun on the hottest day of the year, parts of the north are being blighted by torrential downpours and storms.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain for the North West, North East, Yorkshire and into parts of Scotland saying the deluge could cause flash flooding and travel disruption.

Meteorologist Mark Wilson said "there has been a lot of rain in a very short space of time" in the North West - along with "a lot" of thunder and lightning.

"Prestbury has had 32.4mm of rain in an hour - which is pretty exceptional," he added. "The warning we put out does talk about the risk of up to 30mm in an hour.

"There are some torrential downpours passing through parts of the country at the moment but they will ease probably in the next two hours."

Manchester City's Champions League clash with Borussia Monchengladbach has been postponed - with pictures showing huge amounts of water on the pitch.

A tweet from the club's official account said: "It is absolutely belting down at the Etihad!"

Mr Wilson said the band of rain and thunderstorms looks set to push eastwards into Yorkshire and up to Scotland over the course of the night.