Fresh thunderstorm warnings issued across UK as temperatures to soar to 30C this weekend

12 June 2025, 12:28

Fresh yellow weather warnings have been issued across England and Wales for Friday and Saturday, as extreme temperatures and thunder are set to batter the UK.

Temperatures may reach 30C on Friday, which would make it the hottest day of 2025, surpassing the 29.3C recorded at Kew Gardens in west London on May 1.

It means the parts of the UK could be hotter than Ibiza, Mykonos, and even Los Angeles.

But the Met Office has also issued yellow weather warnings for Saturday in parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island.

Read more: Yorkshire second region to declare a drought after dry spring

Thunder warnings will run from Thursday afternoon to Saturday evening across much of south-west and northern England, as well as parts of Wales.

Meanwhile, a separate thunder warning is in place of London and east England from midnight on Saturday to 3pm.

Heavy downpours and thunderstorms are expected in Northern Ireland, south west England and Wales on Thursday, potentially causing flooding, power cuts, and travel disruption, the Met Office said.

Forecasters say an inch and a half of rain could fall over a few hours and winds could reach 50mph.

Other regions may see showers, but northern England and Scotland are expected to remain mostly dry and warm, with highs of up to 27C, the Met Office said.

These storms could bring flooding, travel disruption, power cuts, and damage from hail, lightning and gusty winds, forecasters said.

Earlier on Friday, conditions are expected to be dry with temperatures between 27 and 28C but there may be highs of 30C if skies remain clear, the Met Office said.

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge said: “We’ve got a very warm, humid, spell of wet weather to come.

“It’s all because we’ve got air moving in from the south, so the air is originating across Spain and Portugal and has been moving its way northwards.

“We’re going to see increasingly humid conditions with very warm days and some quite muggy nights as well and the general gist is that western parts of the UK are likely to see the majority of the rain and the thundery showers.

“But, as we go into Friday, we could see some of that also moving across the east and south east as well for some thunder there for a time.”

Under UKHSA and the Met Office’s Weather-Health alerting system, a yellow alert means there could be an increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people.

It may lead to an increase in risk to health for individuals aged over 65 or those with pre-existing health conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.