The Met Office has named nine areas that will experience thunderstorm conditions on Thursday, providing a brief respite from the ongoing heat alerts. The forecaster issued thunderstorm warnings with the possibility of frequent lightning, gusty winds, torrential rain, and even hail.
Thunderstorm Warnings Replace Extreme Heat Alerts
The new warnings come after the Met Office issued rare red extreme heat alerts for dozens of areas, with scorching temperature highs of 40°C possible. The UK Health Security Agency had issued a red health warning for six regions of England – the West Midlands, East Midlands, South East, South West, London, and east of England – from 1am on Wednesday until 11pm on Thursday. This indicated a risk to life for even the healthy population, as well as impacts beyond health and social care, with potential effects on transport systems, food, water, energy supplies, and businesses.
According to the Met Office, there will be a swift change in conditions on Thursday as temperatures cool down. The new weather warnings are in effect for London and the South East, South West England, and the East of England.
Met Office Details Storm Impacts
The Met Office stated: 'An area of thunderstorms moving east across the area will bring a spell of frequent lightning, gusty winds, torrential rain, and in a few places, hail. The storms will be moving quickly reducing the potential for widespread large amounts of rain, but there are a few places that could see 20-25 mm of rainfall in a short period in the most active storms, which could bring some brief flooding.'
Meanwhile, the Met Office reported that 29,074 lightning strikes have been recorded in the UK in the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday. All of these strikes were over England, with the majority – 18,540 – over Somerset. The Met Office's lightning map also shows hundreds more strikes across south-east England on Tuesday morning.
Overnight Temperatures and List of Affected Areas
The highest overnight temperature was 20.4°C in Gosport, Hampshire, while eight other places recorded a tropical night where temperatures did not fall below 20°C. These were Crosby in Merseyside, Plymouth and North Wyke in Devon, Aberporth, Cardiff and St Athan in Wales, Hurn in Dorset, and the Isle of Wight.
The following areas are forecast to face heavy rain on Thursday: Aberdeen, Glasgow, Fort William, Inverness, Wick, Southampton, Cornwall, Devon, and Cardiff.
