Met Office issues urgent thunderstorm warning as 'frequent spell of lightning' set to strike

The Met Office has issued an urgent thunderstorm warning with 'frequent spells of lightning' set to strike parts of southern England.

A yellow warning for thunderstorms is in place until 9pm on Monday, covering an area stretching between Bristol and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Rare red warnings have also been issued over extreme temperatures that are set to hit record highs for June this week.

The hot conditions, which have been very rare in the UK until now, will be accompanied by high humidity and very warm nights, which will make it hard for people to recover overnight, the forecasters added.

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A Met Office spokesman said: "An area of thunderstorms moving east across the area will bring a spell of frequent lightning, gusty winds, torrential rain, and a few places, hail.

"The storms will be moving quickly reducing the potential for widespread large amounts of rain, but there is a few places could see 20-25 mm of rainfall in a short period in the most active storms, which could bring some brief flooding.

"The majority of impacts are likely to come from other hazards however, such as lightning striking buildings and causing power cuts, difficult driving conditions in heavy rain, and some localised damage to vulnerable structures by strong wind gusts or hail."

According to the forecaster, the alert is in place till 9pm tonight.

Impacted regions include Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire.

Flights coming into Bristol Airport have been diverted, with journeys being redirected to London Gatwick, Cardiff, London Luton and Birmingham airports.

The independent research body TORRO (The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation) has also warned of a small risk of a tornado as the stormy weather hits the region.

A spokesman said: "Thunderstorms are developing in Devon and Somerset, moving ENE broadly, and are expected to affect parts of Wales, as well as Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, over the coming hours.

"Associated risks of large hail, strong wind gusts and a small risk of a tornado with these."

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It comes as the Met Office issued a rare red weather warning covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.

These are reserved for the most severe events, the agency said, meaning this heatwave is expected to bring “severe and significant impacts” including widespread health risks for many, not just those who are normally more vulnerable to the heat, and even danger to life.

Chief meteorologist at the Met Office Dr Will Lang said: "We are forecasting extreme temperatures in the next few days, particularly on Wednesday and Thursday, when it looks like we’ll be seeing maximum temperatures into the high 30s.

"But also we are stressing very high overnight temperatures which will be very uncomfortable for vulnerable groups, and very humid conditions as well."

Chief executive of the Climate Change Committee Emma Pinchbeck said the UK needed to carry on reducing emissions that are driving global warming, but warned that the country also needed to adapt to the kind of "weird heat" forecast for this week.

The committee has recommended cuts of 87 per cent in the UK’s greenhouse gas pollution by 2040 on 1990 levels, a proposal the Government has accepted and will be debated by Parliament on Wednesday as temperatures are expected to soar to 39C, and the UK has halved emissions since 1990.

She said: "It’s important that we carry on doing that, because effectively it prevents a world we can’t adapt to. Even with action to reduce emissions, this weird heat, these unusual weather events are the world as we will know it.

"This is going to be much more typical in the UK, even under 2C of warming. To make sure we’re protected from that, we need to roll out cooling particularly in places where there are vulnerable people, care homes and hospitals."

Some schools have announced early closures while others have asked parents to pick up their children before the end of the normal day where possible in an effort to protect pupils amid extreme heat this week.

Teachers’ union NASUWT said a legally enforceable maximum classroom temperature should be introduced.

General Secretary Matt Wrack said: "Teachers have told us that extremes of temperature in their classrooms are their biggest concern about their school building. This affects pupils’ ability to learn and teachers’ ability to teach.

"We believe that a legally enforceable maximum classroom temperature should be introduced, along with investment in greater ventilation, insulation, shaded areas and flood defences in and around schools and colleges in order to make them better equipped to withstand a changing climate and hotter, more intense weather."

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