Heatwave to end with 'vigorous' thunder, hail and lightning as Met Office warns 4 UK areas

Three areas of the UK have been warned to brace for 'vigorous' thunderstorms on Monday by the Met Office.

It will be a tale of two weather forecasts for the UK this weekend, as parts of the country will bask in beautiful and temperatures of up to 27C, while others will see the hot conditions crack with thunder and heavy rain.

The Met Office says that parts of southern England as well as Wales will be most likely to experience rain, showers and thunderstorms on Saturday night into Sunday morning, but as the weekend goes on, the chance of thunder and rain spreads to more of the UK including Northern Ireland and western Great Britain. But in the areas which escape thunder, conditions will be 'dry, fine and increasingly warm', the forecaster said.

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Dan Harris, said: "From Saturday night, into Sunday morning, there is an increasing chance of rain, showers and isolated thunderstorms moving northwards across the southwest of the UK.

"As we continue through Sunday and into Monday, this will extend to other western parts of Great Britain and into Northern Ireland too. On Monday itself, we could see some particularly vigorous thunderstorms developing, most likely in Wales and parts of southern England, whilst elsewhere during this whole period, dry, fine, and increasingly warm conditions are expected.

"Should these thunderstorms develop, especially on Monday, there is potential for 25-35mm of rain to fall in an hour or so which may lead to some localised surface water flooding."

The forecaster urged people to check Met Office forecasts over the weekend as warnings may be issued and conditions will change quickly.

Mr Harris added: "Hail, lightning, and isolated strong wind gusts would be additional hazards. Forecasting exactly where thunderstorms will form at this range is fraught with uncertainty, so please stay up to date with the Met Office forecast through the weekend, and any severe weather warnings which may be issued.

"In the sunshine, away from the cloud in the west and southwest, temperatures will likely build again, with highs of 26-27°C possible on Sunday and Monday."

In better news, the forecaster says that showers should clear away by Tuesday, with brighter, clearer conditions for most of the UK again.

It added: "The chance of showers persists into Tuesday across the far south of the UK, with higher pressure once again becoming dominant and eventually clearing the showers away. Much of the UK will have another bright sunny day on Tuesday, with the settled conditions covering the vast majority of the UK by Wednesday and likely to remain through the week."