UK weather forecast: Nearly a month's worth of rain to come down in one hour, bringing heatwave to a close

Storms will bring lightning, hail and flooding to some areas
PA
Kit Heren26 June 2020

Brits are set to be drenched by torrential rain and thunderstorms this weekend, including nearly a month's worth of rain in just an hour, bringing to an end a week of blazing sunshine.

Storms will bring lightning, hail and flooding to some areas, the Met Office has said, with a yellow weather warning in place for most of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and east Wales from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Steve Willington, said: "Where thunderstorms do occur, they will develop quickly with intense rainfall of 30 to 50 mm in just a few hours with lightning an additional hazard."

The average rainfall in June across the UK is about 60mm. The south-west and south-east of England are not covered by the warning.

Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said: “Not everyone will see a storm, but if you catch one, you will certainly know about it.”

A man shelters from the rain earlier in June 
PA

The storms are expected to clear on Friday evening, but will remain over north-east Scotland until Saturday morning, the Met Office added.

On Friday morning, the Environment Agency issued seven flood alerts – meaning flooding is possible – of which five were focused near rivers in the West Midlands, while others were for the waterways around Loughborough in Leicestershire and the River Trent tributaries in Nottinghamshire.

Temperatures are expected to drop on Saturday to 22C to 23C (73.4F) in London, and stay around the “high teens to low 20s” for the rest of the UK, Mr Snell said.

He added: “It (the weather) will change, but it will be more what people expect our summer to be like – a mix of sun and showers.”

Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said: “Not everyone will see a storm, but if you catch one, you will certainly know about it."
PA

The storms come after a heatwave lasting most of the week, with new temperature records for 2019 set on consecutive days.

Thursday saw the mercury reach 33.3C at Heathrow airport, beating Wednesdays highest temperature of 32.6C.

Scotland and Wales also experienced their hottest days of the year so far, with the former recording 30.8C in Prestwick, and the latter seeing temperatures rise to 31.4C in Trawsgoed, near Aberystwyth.

Temperatures on Friday were forecasted to reach 31C in London, the mid-20s for the rest of England and up to 27C in the Scottish Highlands.

UK Heatwave: June 26, 2020

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Thousands of people descended on beaches across the UK amid the good weather this week, leading to a "major incident" being declared on the south coast on Thursday.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council said services were “completely overstretched” as huge numbers of "irresponsible" visitors defied advice to stay away from its beaches.

MP Tobias Ellwood, speaking from Bournemouth beach on Friday morning, said: “This place was deluged and social distancing went out the window and that’s why a major incident was declared, because the local authority and indeed the police couldn’t cope.”

He told BBC Breakfast: “The beach should have been closed down, or at least shut down to prevent further people from entering it.”

UK beaches packed during bank holiday heatwave

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Meanwhile people have been warned about the dangers of cooling off by swimming, after three people drowned in recent days.

A boy, 10, died after getting into difficulty in Loch Lubnaig in the Scottish highlands, while two men drowned in the River Thames in Berkshire.

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