Thunderstorms begin in the UK after heatwaveon August 15, 2022 at 9:58 am

Thunderstorms have started to hit the UK as a spell of extreme hot weather draws to a close.

There is a risk of torrential downpours, causing travel disruption and some flooding, the Met Office says.

Three days of alerts have been issued for most areas, ending on Wednesday.

Temperatures topped 34C in parts of the UK at the weekend. Experts say a lengthy period of rain is needed to end the drought declared in parts of England on Friday.

This is because rainwater struggles to permeate dry ground, meaning it will run off the dehydrated surface and lead to flash flooding in some areas, the Met Office said.

A Tesco supermarket and Vue cinema in Inverness have been closed after their roofs collapsed following an intense downpour at Inshes Retail Park on Monday morning.

In England, eight areas are in a state of drought, including Devon and Cornwall, East Anglia and East Midlands.

Warm temperatures are still projected across England, with highs of 29C forecast for Cambridgeshire this afternoon, but they will fall closer to seasonal averages by the middle of the week.

Yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms are in place across the UK, excluding the north of Scotland.

The alerts will end in Northern Ireland and Scotland on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, the warning will only be in effect in the south east and south west of England.

Grahame Madge, climate spokesperson for Met Office, said the ensuing rain and hail “will be very intense”.

He said: “The ground is like concrete, so the water will run off before it can percolate through. This could lead to flash flooding in some areas.

It could take months to determine if the UK has recovered from the “very dry summer”.

“Summer 2022 has been one of the driest with way below average rainfall. The next few weeks and months will be very important,” he added.

In some areas of the UK, flooding has already begun.

Hosepipe bans and other water restrictions have been imposed by water boards to grapple with dwindling water levels at reservoirs.

South West Water are the latest company to introduce a hosepipe ban, coming into effect in Cornwall and parts of Devon on 23 August.

BBC weather presenter Helen Willetts said: “Today, showers in the north will merge into longer spells of heavy rain at times. Elsewhere, there will be variable cloud and some sharp, thundery showers.

“It will be cooler for many, but still very warm in the south-east.”

The extreme heat has caused numerous casualties, with a string of wildfires erupting across tinder-dry swathes of Ashdown Forest in Derbyshire and Studland peninsula in Purbeck, Dorset over the weekend.

At least three deaths at sea have been recorded since the heatwave began.

The body of a teenage boy was recovered after a five-hour search in Skegness, Lincolnshire on Saturday following a five-hour search.

On the same day, a man in his twenties died at Lakeside in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

A man was found by police divers in the River Thames in Hampton Court, south-west London on Sunday.