Thunderstorms and a heatwave may hit the UK in a week of ‘split’ weather

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.

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.

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.