Met Office daily weather: Festival weekend set for thunderstorms

As we head into the weekend, the UK is set to experience a dynamic mix of weather conditions, with heat, humidity, and the risk of severe thunderstorms all in the forecast.

Friday begins unsettled across parts of Northern Ireland, where showers and isolated thunderstorms are expected to develop early, particularly in western areas. These showers will gradually spread into northern England and southern Scotland by the afternoon, though they are likely to remain scattered.

Elsewhere, the day will bring variable cloud cover and increasingly warm or hot conditions, especially across eastern and southeastern England. Temperatures here are expected to reach the high 20s, with a chance of hitting 30°C in some eastern locations. In contrast, southwestern Britain will see temperatures closer to seasonal norms.

During the afternoon, isolated showers and thunderstorms may develop across southern England. However, it is later in the day and into the evening when the risk of severe thunderstorms increases significantly across southeastern England. These storms, if they materialise, could bring torrential downpours, large hail, frequent lightning, and gusty winds.

Overnight, thunderstorms in the southeast are expected to clear northeastwards into the North Sea. Further outbreaks of rain and possible thunderstorm development are likely across western areas, particularly Wales and southwest England, extending northwards into southern Scotland later in the night. Northern Ireland and much of Scotland should remain dry. It will be another warm and humid night in the southeast, with overnight lows of 14-16°C, especially in urban areas.

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Outlook for Saturday

Saturday starts cloudy in the far northeast with some patchy drizzle, but much of northern Britain will see dry conditions and clear spells early on. Further south, areas of heavy and potentially thundery rain will move north and northeast during the morning. Yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms are in place across Saturday for Wales, southwestern England, northern England and parts of southern Scotland. 

Behind these, brighter conditions will develop with sunny spells, though further heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely to break out. Winds will be fresh to strong in the far southeast, otherwise light to moderate. Temperatures will be near normal for most, though parts of the southeast may remain very warm and humid, with East Anglia likely to be the warmest region.

Met Office presenter and meteorologist, Aidan McGivern, said: "For many it's a drier interlude as we start off Friday, a muggy night for sleeping with that higher humidity, temperatures in many spots not dropping below the mid teens and it's going to stay breezy in places as well. But actually the temperatures peak on Friday, the humidity peaks particularly in the east of the UK, up to 29°C, that would equal the highest temperature of the year so far recorded on May 1, perhaps 30°C in one or two spots of East Anglia.

“But with that heat and the rising humidity and that approaching low pressure, well the biggest storms are still to come and they may well originate later Friday over parts of northern France. Before that happens, the odd heavy downpour or thunderstorm could occur through Friday, but actually Friday itself is mostly dry with sunny .

“Then it's really late afternoon that we'll start to see the first signs of these imported thunderstorms coming up through the Channel. Predominantly during the hours of darkness on Friday evening, before the sun goes down and then overnight. We're talking torrential rainfall, more than 50 mm in just a few hours, hail, gusty winds and of course frequent lightning.

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“Certainly, lots of showers or longer spells of heavy rain around first thing Saturday. We've got our initial batch of thunderstorms clearing from the southeast, but further heavy spells of rain into parts of central and southern Scotland, Northern Ireland, Northern England, parts of Wales. Further south and southeast, scattered heavy showers but also some sunny spells breaking through, and western Scotland most likely staying dry with some sunshine.

“It's going to feel a bit cooler, a little less humid, those thunderstorms having cleared the air, but still some warmth towards the east of England, perhaps 25 or 26°C."

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