Heat wave gives wa y to heavy ra infa ll

THUNDERSTORMS and heavy rain brought a dramatic close to Courier Country’s spell of fine weather yesterday.

Severe weather warnings were issued for the Central, Tayside and Fife areas yesterday with thundery rain and some torrential downpours in places.

Stirling, Kinross and parts of Fife saw the worst of the weather, with heavy rainfall continuing into the night, and thunder and lightning affecting much of the area.

There were hazardous driving conditions throughout and motorists travelling between Dundee and Arbroath complained about water lying on the dualcarriageway, but there we re no accidents reported.

The recent heatwave contributed to a high amount of surface water in some parts of the region as the dry ground was not able to readily soak up the heavy rainfall.

There is expected to be a break in the stormy weather today as the early morning fog breaks up to leave some sunny intervals through the clouds.

However, this reprieve will not last long and people can expect the bad weather to continue again tomorrow.

A local forecaster said people in the area should be prepared for a lot of very changeable weather in a short amount of time as thundery rain continues intermittently throughout the week.

She added: “There will be more of the same on Thursday as the weather becomes a bit more turbulent again.

“It will be back to the thundery storms by the afternoon and there will likely be a lot of rain with the worst of the showers hitting Crieff and Stirling.”

She did say there is hope for the weekend and people attending the Rewind Scotland Festival in Perthshire can expect clear skies on Saturday with the chance of a few light showers, although Sunday may bring some more thundery weather.