Sunshine blown out Weather: Dark clouds and storms roll in

Just hours after basking in the warmest weather of the year so far, the Highlands were drenched yesterday as storms swept across the region.

The Western Isles were the wettest place anywhere in the UK as the warm conditions drew in storms off the Atlantic.

More than an inch of rain fell in Harris in just 14 hours – an unusually high figure for July.

Dramatic thunder and lightning storms were also witnessed across the Highlands, with Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) working to a yellow alert because of the risk of power cuts.

The downpours came just hours af ter the warmest conditions of the year, with the mercury hitting nearly 27C in Sutherland on Tuesday.

A Met Office spokesman said the weather would remain hot – but warned that the unsettled conditions are set to stay for the next few days.

A yellow weather warning was put in place throughout yesterday and has been continued in the far north of the mainland as well as Orkney and Shetland until 9am this morning.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency also issued flood alerts for several areas in the Highlands and islands.

“A yellow weather warning was put in place throughout yesterday”

Fears over lightning strikes meant the closure of part of the swimming complex at Inverness Leisure Centre yesterday morning.

The leisure waters area was closed for more than an hour because of fears that lightning striking the outdoor area of the pool could conduct electricity into the internal section as well.

A spokesman for High Life Highland said that the pool had been closed off at about 11.15am and swimmers were given the option of using the unconnected competition pool instead.

The centre reopened the leisure pool about an hour later, following 30 minutes without further lightning strikes near the complex.

Another casualty of the storms was the Highland Folk Museum, which closed because of concerns about flooding and lightning strikes.

A spokesman confirmed that there had been no significant damage and that the park would open as normal today.

The highest rainfall any-

Residents of Inverness were woken up at 4am with this bolt out of the blue