UK weather: Met Office warns of heavy rain and thunderstorms

Bank holiday plans for many could be ruined after forecasters warned thunderstorms and heavy downpours could cause flooding and travel disruption across the UK.

The Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for parts of central and southern Scotland, Wales and parts of England on Monday, warning that spray and sudden flooding could create difficult driving conditions.

The Met Office added there was a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly.

Forecasters said there was a small chance of fast-flowing or deep flood water causing danger to life, while power cuts were also possible and lightning strikes could damage buildings.

Warnings covering part of Scotland, northern and central England, Wales, London, the south-east and part of south-west England are in force until 9pm on Monday.

Later in the week the weather is expected to become more settled and temperatures will climb towards the weekend, possibly reaching as high as 23C or 24C in the south of England by Friday into Saturday and the high teens in Scotland.

Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said: “On Tuesday much of the UK should be dry with a mixture of cloud and sunshine, though probably cloudiest across Scotland.

“Going beyond Tuesday there will be much drier weather for much of the UK and it improves apart from the very far north and Northern Ireland.

“Away from those areas it is generally a dry picture going towards the weekend and on Friday into Saturday we are likely to see temperatures climb probably to 23C or 24C in the south.

“There will be quite warm temperatures for much of the UK, above where they should be for the time of year.

“It will not be wall-to-wall sunshine but the weather will be much more settled.”

Last Thursday, heavy thunderstorms hit southern England and Wales. Forecasters said the thunderstorms could pave the way for the hottest day of the year so far in Britain but this did not come to pass.

The first half of April was warm but that was followed by a chillier, wetter fortnight to see out the month. There was an average of 99mm of rainfall by 28 April, which is 27% higher than usual for the month. Last Wednesday was the warmest day of 2024 so far, with a peak of 22.1C in Santon Downham in Suffolk.

No warnings for the rest of the week have been put in place by the Met Office as temperatures are expected to pick up.