Hot, humid weather in Preston to be replaced by thunder, heavy rain and hail

Rain creating a risk of spray on a road in South Ribble. Pic: Blog Preston

A period of hot, sunny conditions will be interrupted by thunderstorms as the warm weather breaks down.

That is the warning of a new forecast from the Met Office issued this morning (11 August).

Preston, and much of the UK to the north, is under a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms from 2am until 1pm tomorrow (12 August).

Sunday itself is expected to see hotter conditions with the Met Office attributed the warmer weather to the effects of Tropical Storm Debby in North America.

Dan Holley, deputy chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “Along with the rise in temperatures, there is also an increasing threat of heavy rain and thunderstorms on Sunday night and into Monday.

“This looks most likely across portions of Wales, northern England, Northern Ireland and southern and eastern Scotland.”

The warning states that the thunderstorm may cause disruption and damage to infrastructure and lead to some damage, and also feature hail, heavy rain and periods of strong wind.

The yellow weather warning is the lowest warning option available to the Met Office and they added that not all areas covered by the warning will see the thunderstorm.

A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “Thunderstorms are expected to develop over western parts of the UK and move northeast during the second half of Sunday night becoming organised into Monday morning.

“Although not all parts of the warning area are expected to see them, an area of increasingly organised thunderstorms is likely to produce a combination of frequent lightning, heavy rain, hail and short periods of strong winds.

“Some torrential downpours are likely, with 20-40 mm in places, and a potential for 40-60 mm of rain to fall in 1-2 hours very locally, with hail up to 2 cm in diameter. Thunderstorms are expected clear towards the northeast by Monday afternoon.”

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