Sunshine over clouds in an orange sky during a heatwave.

Met Office daily weather: Weekend brings a change, and potentially some thunderstorms too

The weekend is set to bring a dynamic and potentially stormy weather pattern across the UK

From Saturday, elevated showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop across western and southwestern areas, tracking generally north-northeast through the day. Ahead of this main activity, isolated thunderstorms may form, particularly across parts of northern England. Some of these storms could be severe, with the potential for large hail, frequent lightning, and strong gusty winds.

Eastern and southeastern regions are likely to remain dry for much of the day, with prolonged spells of sunshine and hot conditions. Temperatures here could reach highs of 32°C, and if sunshine persists longer than expected, an isolated 34°C is possible. Further west and northwest, conditions will be less warm than in recent days, with the chance of isolated showers or thunderstorms.

Overnight into Sunday, heavy showers and thunderstorms will continue across parts of northern and eastern England before clearing into the North Sea. Additional heavy showers will move north-northeast across Northern Ireland and western Scotland. Elsewhere, the night will be largely dry with variable cloud and some clear spells. Winds will be light to moderate, fresh along some coasts, and it will remain a very warm night in the far southeast.

Outlook for Sunday

Sunday begins with lingering heavy showers and thunderstorms across eastern and northeastern England and parts of Scotland, with hail and frequent lightning possible. These will clear eastwards through the morning. Southern and southeastern areas will start dry, warm, and humid, with conditions remaining so for much of the day, although cloud may increase later with the risk of an isolated shower.

Further west, areas of cloud and outbreaks of rain will move slowly eastwards, turning heavier in places. This will be followed by fresher, cooler conditions and further showers. Winds will remain light to moderate. Temperatures will stay very warm in the east, locally hot in the southeast, but nearer normal elsewhere.

Met Office presenter and meteorologist, Aidan McGivern, said: “Saturday starts with widespread warmth after an uncomfortable night for sleeping for many of us and temperatures quickly rising with the sunny skies in the east in particular.

We're already seeing additional cloud and some sporadic showers breaking out across Scotland, Western England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These will be very hit and miss through the day, old rumble of thunder possible with some of these showers but the main activity likely to come towards the end of the afternoon and to the evening.

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“We are likely to see temperatures peak across eastern parts of England, the midlands into north-east England, south-east Scotland, high 20s, low 30s widely, perhaps as high as 33, or if all the right conditions come together, 34°C. By the end of the day we are concerned about all the ingredients coming together to provide the set up for some severe thunderstorms and the main focus region at the moment is across the central site of the UK, North Wales, North Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland. That's where there is the greatest risk of very large thunderstorms, frequent lightning, large hail, heavy rain, gusty winds for a few hours on Saturday, late afternoon and into the evening.

“This system is going to move its way northeastwards and eventually allow that fresher Atlantic air to move in, but we keep the plume of warmth and increasingly humid air across eastern parts of the UK on Saturday night, so another uncomfortable night for sleeping in the east, perhaps a little more comfortable towards the west as that Atlantic air returns.

“We keep the warmth in the east and the potential for more sunny skies on Sunday. Across East Anglia and the south, the eastern island temperatures rise up to the mid to high 20s once again, although later in the afternoon I suspect that cooler air will start to arrive. Elsewhere, a lot more cloud, certainly a return to fresher conditions and some showers, particularly across Scotland, Northern Ireland, North West England and North Wales. Even some thunderstorms coming along, but not as severe as Saturday night's potential thunderstorms.”

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