After 27C highs (and that epic celestial light show) here comes the rain again
BRITONS are set to bask in the hottest temperatures of the year today after clear skies gave way to a spectacular celestial light show across the UK – but thunderstorms may dampen spirits before the weekend concludes.
The mercury is expected to peak at 27C (81F), with central and south-eastern areas of England set for sweltering weather. It follows on from yesterday’s high of 25.9C (79F) in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, which saw families flocking to beaches, beauty spots and parks to catch some rays.
The fun in the sun was ruined for some who instead faced travel hell, with the M25 closed in both directions between junctions 9 and 10 in Surrey because of work on a new bridge. Motorists endured a nightmare 19-mile diversion, as well as a possible £180 Ulez fine if they disregarded the designated route.
And thunderstorms and heavy rain could put an end to a week of sunshine, with flash flooding likely.
This comes after Britons were treated to a stunning technicolour display on Friday night, as the first extreme geomagnetic storm in two decades hit Earth.
The last G5 storm in October 2003 sparked power outages in Sweden, according to Professor Carole Haswell, Head of Astronomy at the Open University.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘A lot of the satellites communicate using radio signals and all of these charged particles speeding around disrupt radio signals, particularly GPS which is used by planes, can be disrupted so it can cause navigation problems, it can cause outages with satellites, it can bring down power systems.’
A spokesman for the Energy Networks Association said it had been monitoring the solar storm and that the UK’s electricity network was operating as normal.
Fair-skinned sunbathers were warned to stay out of the midday sun as UV levels surged to a ‘very high’ level 7, usually only seen in the UK for a brief spell at the end of June. Meanwhile, extraordinary sightings of the Northern Lights were spotted as far north as Inverness, stretching to Kent and Hampshire in the south.
Sharing a photograph of a stunning magenta night sky, astronaut Tim Peake wrote on X: ‘Incredible to see the Aurora looking so spectacular tonight even from the south coast of the UK. What a show. If you are awake and reading this, head outside now.’
BBC weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker celebrated spotting the Aurora from Ealing, west London, with a selfie and the caption: ‘Yay, my first Aurora, I can’t believe it!’
Meanwhile, Paul Norris, 47, from Allerton Bywater in West Yorkshire, said seeing the lights was ‘not what we’d expect on the outskirts of Leeds’.
He added: ‘My wife Emma and I woke our eldest daughter Phoebe up to see them. It could be a oncein-a-lifetime experience, it’s certainly the first time I’ve seen them. We spent about an hour watching them.’
Those who missed the display may get another chance, as Dr Ed Bloomer, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, predicted there could still be some sightings next week.