The weather across the UK will be “split” this week as southern England is forecast to be battered by heavy downpours while western Scotland may enjoy a heatwave.
According to the Met Office, southern England will see “a spell of unsettled weather” which could include thunderstorms, lightning, strong winds and hail while the worst affected areas may experience more than 50mm of rainfall within two hours.
A yellow warning for heavy rain has been issued by the weather service covering all of south-east England and as far west as Taunton in Somerset, and Cardiff from 9pm on Wednesday to 9am on Thursday.
Birmingham, Peterborough and Norwich are also within the warning zone where buildings and roads could experience sudden flooding, with road closures and disruption to public transport also possible.
Elsewhere, conditions are expected to be more “settled” in the north, with temperatures of up to 26C expected in western Scotland on Friday and Saturday.
Oli Claydon, spokesman for the Met Office, said: “What we’re seeing is a development of a bit of a split in the weather between the north and south.”
He continued: “We could even be fringing on the possibility of nudging into heatwave thresholds in parts of western Scotland by the end of the week.”
The criteria for a heatwave is a period of three consecutive days where the maximum temperature meets or exceeds the heatwave temperature threshold for that particular area.
For Scotland, the threshold is 25C, according to the Met Office website.
With rain, showers and thunderstorms expected to affect the UK at the start of the week, there is less certainty later in the week with a number of scenarios possible.
Find out more in our Week Ahead forecast 👇 pic.twitter.com/LjSnYwavlx
— Met Office (@metoffice) September 2, 2024
Mr Claydon continued: “As we move into September, we start to see the overnight temperatures falling a little.
“So some chilly nights are still around, and even when they’ve got the higher daytime temperatures, we could still see lows of 7C in parts of rural Scotland on Friday night.”
The southeast of England is forecast to enjoy the highest temperature this week of 27C on Friday, but this may be accompanied by cloud and rain, Mr Claydon said.
Currently, temperatures are “around average” for this time of year, he added.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here