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Every Met Office yellow weather warning area as UK to be battered by two days of thunderstorms

Frequent lightning, gusty winds and large hail has been forecast

20 Sep 2024, 08:46 by Annabal Bagdi, https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/authors/annabal-bagdi/ · Birmingham Live

Thunderstorms are set to batter the UK within hours - and last for two days. The Met Office has issued weather alerts for many parts of Britain.

'Frequent lightning, gusty winds and potentially some large hail' is anticipated during the thundery showers. Heavy rain is also forecast, with up to 70mm of rain expected to fall within an hour.

Damage to buildings due to lightning strikes, disruption to public transport and flooding is possible. There could also be power cuts during the storms, the Met Office said.

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The first yellow weather warning for thunderstorms will come into force at midday today (Friday, September 20) and end at 8pm. The Met Office said: "A few thundery showers may be present across southern and south east England early on Friday, but from the middle of the day they are expected to develop more widely within the warning area.

"Whilst some places will remain dry, where thundery showers do occur, they will bring frequent lightning, gusty winds, potentially some large hail, as well as brief spells of heavy rain. 15-25 mm of rain fall may fall within an hour, with a very small chance of 30-40 mm falling in 3 hours; the latter most likely across southwest England.

"Showers will tend to ease and fade during Friday evening." A second yellow weather warning for thunderstorms will be in effect between 1am and 11.59pm tomorrow (Saturday, September 21).

According to the Met Office, there is a 'small chance of fast flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life'. It said: "Whilst there is some uncertainty in the details , scattered showers and thunderstorms are likely to develop and spread northwestwards at times later on Friday night and through Saturday.

"While much of the time it will be dry, and not all places will see these, where they do occur 20-40 mm could fall in less than an hour, with a small chance of isolated accumulations of 50-70 mm over the course of a few hours. In addition, hail and frequent lightning may accompany the most intense storms, especially during Saturday afternoon and evening in parts of the Midlands, southern England and east Wales."

Regions and local authorities affected by yellow weather warning on September 20:

East Midlands

Northamptonshire

East of England

Bedford
Central Bedfordshire
Hertfordshire
Luton

London & South East England

Bracknell Forest
Buckinghamshire
Greater London
Hampshire
Isle of Wight
Milton Keynes
Oxfordshire
Portsmouth
Reading
Slough
Southampton
Surrey
West Berkshire
West Sussex
Windsor and Maidenhead
Wokingham

South West England

Bath and North East Somerset
Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole
Bristol
Cornwall
Devon
Dorset
Gloucestershire
North Somerset
Plymouth
Somerset
South Gloucestershire
Swindon
Torbay
Wiltshire

Wales

Blaenau Gwent
Bridgend
Caerphilly
Cardiff
Carmarthenshire
Ceredigion
Merthyr Tydfil
Monmouthshire
Neath Port Talbot
Newport
Pembrokeshire
Powys
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Swansea
Torfaen
Vale of Glamorgan

West Midlands

Herefordshire
Shropshire
Staffordshire
Warwickshire
West Midlands Conurbation
Worcestershire

Regions and local authorities affected by yellow weather warning on September 21: