Calmer weather after thunderstorms – but it might not last long

Warm temperatures and sunny conditions are set to bring some respite after thunderstorms and heavy rain battered parts of the UK this week – but forecasters warn the good weather might not last long.

Thursday is expected to be a day of sunshine and showers for much of the country, with conditions gradually improving into the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday are likely to be mostly dry – with temperatures reaching as high as 25C in parts, the Met Office said.

But severe thunderstorms and downpours could return early next week – potentially bringing further disruption across the country.

“Today (Thursday) will certainly be less eventful than the last couple of days,” said meteorologist Craig Snell.

“The heaviest and most frequent showers will be up across Scotland, where there is a risk of a few thunderstorms – but not on the scale of what we saw across southern parts of the UK on Tuesday night and into yesterday.

A man on a narrowboat uses an umbrella near Henley-on-Thames
A man on a narrowboat uses an umbrella near Henley-on-Thames

“For the longest day of the year on Friday, England and Wales will have a fairly dry and bright day with some good spells of sunshine.

“Scotland and Northern Ireland will have a continued risk of some showers but they will be few and further between.”

After a fine weekend, storms will roll in from the west from Sunday evening, he added.

“After the brief calm and more settled spell, we will potentially see another spell of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms into next week. Watch this space,” he said.

It comes after torrential rain and a “spectacular electrical storm” lashed parts of the country on Tuesday night.

Homes were left without power and roads were flooded in parts of the South East, while Lenham in Kent saw 1.7in (42mm) of rain in the space of just one hour.

The Met Office said there were 41,000 “cloud to cloud” lightning strikes over the UK sea, northern France and Low Countries overnight.

Some 358 of those were from clouds to the ground over the UK.

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