Weather warnings as thunderstorms hit Tayside and Fife

Parts of Courier Country were hit by thunderstorms last night. Days of sunshine came to an end, at least temporarily, with spells of heavy rain across Tayside and Fife.

There is a yellow warning for more thunderstorms until 11.59pm today with the Met Office warning of the threat of flash flooding and power cuts.

Meanwhile, other parts of the UK are bracing for another day of sizzling temperatures ahead of three days of yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms.

An amber weather warning for extreme heat was in place until 11.59pm yesterday for parts of the south, east, west, midlands and north of England as temperatures were predicted to rise to 32C.

The Met Office put the warning in place saying that people could experience “adverse health effects”, such as sunburn or heat exhaustion, and delays to transport during the hot weather.

Lincolnshire Police confirmed a teenage boy died on Saturday after getting into the sea at Skegness after temperatures reached more than 30C in some parts of England.

It came after a body was found in a Doncaster lake earlier that day following reports that a man in his 20s had got into difficulty in the water.

The Met Office warning for thunderstorms also affects England and Wales today and tomorrow, with just the south-west and south-east of England facing a third day of yellow warnings on Wednesday until 11.59pm, as the rain eases off elsewhere.

Dan Stroud, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the drastic change in weather is due to an alteration in the air pressure. He told the PA news agency: “We’ve had a number of days now where we’ve had clear, strong, clear skies and strong sunshine which has heated up the ground.

“We’ve had high pressure dominating, now we’re having low pressure dominate, so the air is becoming more unstable.

“As we’ve had some very high ground temperatures, it doesn’t actually take too much for the air to become even more unstable and for thundery showers to develop quickly.”

The hot weather has seen wildfires erupt across England, with the latest blaze breaking out in the North York Moors National Park. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to the blaze on Saturday shortly after 6pm in Sutton Bank.

An official drought was declared in eight areas of England on Friday by the National Drought Group (NDG).

Mr Stroud said that despite the forecast of intense showers over the next few days, it is unlikely to help the drought.

“It will help a little but to be honest really, it’s almost the wrong sort of rain,” he said. “What we’re likely to see is some heavy, intense downpours.

“With the ground baked so dry, it’s very difficult for the ground to actually absorb the water very quickly.”

HEATWAVE: A parched Greenwich Park, London, yesterday after an official drought was declared for parts of England – but thunderstorms and heavy rain, which have already hit parts of Scotland, could be on the way.