The Met Office says, despite heavy rain falling over parts of the country on Wednesday night, Thursday will be drier and warmer – with the mercury expected to top 24C
Today is likely to be the warmest day of the year in the UK – with temperatures set to top 24C in some areas.
It means Britain will be hotter than Barcelona today, where the mercury will only peak at 21C this afternoon. The warmest areas in the UK will be across the Southeast of England this afternoon.
It’ll be a rise on yesterday’s peak of 22.1C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, which came before heavy rain and thunderstorms overnight. Two yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms were issued for the UK.
Marco Petagna, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “After a night of storms, the rain will ease in the south of England for a while tomorrow. We could see the skies brightening up in a few places and it will be another warm day. Parts of the South East could even get to 24 degrees and beat today’s temperatures.
“But as the skies brighten and temperatures increase, this could spark a few more thundery showers in the afternoon, so it is likely to still be a bit unsettled and the forecast will be changeable over the next few days.”
The stormy weather, now subsiding, might cause travel disruption and some flooding, leading to “difficult driving conditions and some road closures” this morning in southern areas.
There is also a chance of delays and some cancellations to train and bus services, along with a small possibility of power cuts. While southern parts of the country experienced heavy rain, areas in the North should stay dry and warm.
Looking ahead to the Bank Holiday weekend, Mr Petagna said the forecast showed a “very mixed picture”. Most areas of the country are likely to experience some rain but temperatures will remain fairly warm, in the mid to late teens. There are likely to be showers across the country on Monday.
Wednesday was the warmest day of the year so far, as temperatures reached a peak of 22.1C in Santon Downham in Suffolk. Meanwhile, the temperature in Scotland reached 21.9C in Aultbea in the north-west Highlands.
However, while some areas of the UK experienced their warmest temperatures of the year, there were wide variations across the country. Temperatures were over 10C lower in some coastal areas, such as in Weybourne, a town 70 kilometres north of Santon Downham, which recorded a maximum temperature of 13.6C. Meanwhile, temperatures in Inverbervie, a town on the north-east coast of Scotland, peaked at 9.9C.