Weather alert: 38/39C before more big thunderstorms tomorrow night

The Met Office have said that there is a 60% chance tomorrow will be the hottest day ON RECORD – with a 60% chance the mercury soaring above the previous 38.5C record! Another very warm to hot day today, with temperatures climbing to 32 or 33C for parts of South East England, there’s a bit more cloud in the north west, as a result temperatures aren’t all that high here, however still reaching the mid 20’s today.

Tonight will be an incredibly warm and humid night again for many, with temperatures for some still up around 25C at midnight, and struggling to get down much below 20C during the early hours, making sleeping difficult. Tomorrow, the sun will rocket temperatures across England and Wales. This graphic from the Met Office shows how hot they’re forecasting it to get tomorrow. 32-35C widely in England, perhaps up to 39C, 102F in the south east. Really dangerous heat. Notice how it’s fresher for west Wales and Northern Ireland, thanks to increased cloud at times here.

There’s also a risk of thunderstorms tomorrow evening / night. Heralding a change to somewhat fresher conditions from Friday and into the weekend, with maximum temperatures falling closer to average, however it will still be very warm with highs for central and eastern England still in to the mid 20s.




Thunderstorm warning.

Thunderstorms are difficult to predict, so even if you are in the risk zone, it is only a chance. At the moment the greatest chance is across central and eastern England tomorrow, from the Pennines, through Lincolnshire and into South East England, however some storms may form elsewhere. Heavy rain, gusty winds and potentially hail could be produced by these storms, which may be disruptive to travel tomorrow night.

Lightning strikes also pose a risk, as we saw last night, over 60,000 lightning strikes were recorded, and these have the potential to start fires, produce structural damage and damage to infrastructure, also power cuts are possible. During frequent lightning tomorrow night, this is possible.

Another finalized update for tomorrow’s thunderstorm risk will be posted later in the day. For now though, the focus is primarily on that extreme heat.