UK weather forecast: Britain to bask in 25C this weekend as temperatures soar

Warm weekend to be followed by more heavy rain and thunderstorms next week

Corazon Miller
Thursday 20 June 2019 13:37 BST
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UK weather: The latest Met Office forecast

Britain is set for warmer temperatures and sunny conditions this weekend after several days of thunderstorms and heavy rain - but forecasters warn the good weather might not last long.

Sunshine and showers are forecast for much of the country on Thursday, with conditions gradually improving into the weekend.

“Today will certainly be less eventful than the last couple of days,” said Met Office 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.

“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.”

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

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

And after a fine weekend, Mr Snell said, storms will roll in from the west from Sunday evening.

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

Lightning seen from a house in Canterbury as torrential rain and a spectacular electrical storm lashed parts of the UK on Tuesday night

It comes after homes were left without power and roads were flooded in parts of the southeast, while Lenham in Kent saw 1.7in (42mm) of rain in the space of just one hour on Tuesday night.

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.

Additional reporting Press Association

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