UK weather: Met Office issues warnings for more violent thunderstorms as summer flops
Thunderstorms will rock several regions of the UK today - as the summer continues to flop.
The Met Office has issues multiple weather warnings for storms, including for most of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and the East Midlands. They are in place for 10 hours, from 11am today until 9pm.
As much as 30mm (1.1 inches) of rain will fall every hour in some places, forecasters say. This will call travel disruption, particularly in evening rush hour. The Met Office website reads: "Showers developing later on Tuesday morning, becoming heavy with some thunderstorms through the afternoon and early evening. Some of these will be slow-moving with lightning, hail and also heavy rain and a few places seeing 20-30 mm of rain in one hour."
It says Brits in these areas should expect;
- There is a good chance driving conditions will be affected by spray, standing water and/or hail, leading to longer journey times by car and bus
- Possibly some damage to a few buildings and structures from lightning strikes
- Some short term loss of power and other services is possible
- Some flooding of a few homes and businesses possible, leading to some damage to buildings or structures
- Delays to train services are possible
This weather map shows rain is expected, thundery in parts, for most of the country today
The full list of areas subjected to the weather warning reads;
East Midlands
- Derbyshire
- Lincolnshire
- Nottingham
- Nottinghamshire
North East England
- Durham
North West England
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Blackpool
- Cheshire East
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire
Yorkshire & Humber
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- Kingston upon Hull
- North Lincolnshire
- North Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire
- West Yorkshire
- York
But a plume of warmth sparking a 38C heatwave across southern Europe could head towards the UK in a matter of days, forecasters say. Schools have closed in Greece due to the extreme heat, caused by frequent southerly winds pulling hot air in from North Africa, also experiencing a heatwave currently. Such weather is only typically seen in both continents in July and August but, this year, there have been hotter air masses to tap into due to global warming.
Temperatures in the low 40Cs are forecast for Greece and Italy next week, as the hot air continues to move north. The pattern may continue to finally kickstart the UK's summer, forecasters say.
Ian Simpson, meteorologist with Netweather, wrote on its blog: "There is some chance of some of that North African and southern European heat making its way to the British Isles towards the end of June, depending on whether the ridges of high pressure from the Azores align in such a way that we pull in hot air masses from the south and south-east, but this is not a certainty."