Sporadic thunderstorm activity has been affecting parts of Northern England for the past few hours. The below image is the latest location of UK lightning strikes as of 19:50, credit: Blitzortung.org.
There are two areas of interest at present,
1. There is currently a dissipating thunderstorm (potential supercell-like core) over North Yorkshire in the north west Yorkshire Dales. This storm is now dissipating, and as such is not expected to re-intensify significantly as it heads towards Scotland. It however has produced some large hail of 2-3cm in diameter. This following image was captured by @myla_labrador in Sheffield.
There have also been some reports of travel disruption in the South and West Yorkshire region following a relatively intense storm this afternoon.
2. There is another relatively small thunderstorm cell located over North Lincolnshire. This cell is still producing some lightning and intense rainfall as it heads towards the Hull and Humber area, but is expected to dissipate in the coming hour or two.
After these two storms have dissipated, there isn’t much thunderstorm activity left in the forecast for tonight. Most areas will turn dry. There is, however, a slight chance of some thunder in the Channel towards the early hours, however this is unlikely to be particularly significant. Through Saturday, although some moderate instability is likely, any thunderstorms which form are likely to be relatively weak.