Thunderstorm warning as torrential rain to hit UK ahead of weekend of sunshine - making it hotter than Portugal

1 September 2023, 13:18

A thunderstorm warning has been issued as torrential rain is set to thrash parts of the UK ahead of the arrival of a mini-heatwave.

The Met Office issued the yellow weather warning for Friday between 1pm and 7pm, with the heavy downpours and strong winds expected to cause travel disruption throughout the afternoon.

The East of England are expected to be worst hit, including Essex, Southend-on-Sea, Suffolk and Thurrock.

It comes ahead of a mini-heatwave, with temperatures set to soar as high as 27C next week - making the UK hotter than Portugal.

The Environment Agency issued 15 flood warnings and 54 flood alerts ahead of the weekend to prepare Brits for the rain.

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The Met Office's Alex Deakin said: "Drier, sunnier, warmer weather is on the way for the weekend, but the charts initially don't look too promising.

"We've got low pressure sitting across the UK and another one up towards the northwest.

"Quite an intense warm this, it's heading its way up towards Greenland.

"And actually that one is allowing high pressure to topple in further south and oust the low that's sitting across us at the moment.

"And this high will bring many of us a fine weekend and probably into the early part of next week as well."

The turn in temperatures comes as the UK enters meteorological autumn.

It is partly down to the impact of Hurricane Franklin, which hit Bermuda with winds of up to 105mph on Wednesday.

The tropical storm caused a flow of warm air to move north from southern Europe, the Met Office said.