As the recent warm weather gives way to cooler and wetter conditions, Britons are being advised to prepare for thunderstorms, hail, and rain today.
Throughout the day, temperatures are forecast to hover around 18C, and they will do so again over the weekend.
But starting on Monday, the temperature will start to rise, reaching highs of about 23C by the middle of the week, while the likelihood of showers also starts to fade.
However, in advance of the arrival of storms this afternoon, the Met Office has issued a yellow weather alert for the west of England.
As a result, experts warn of hazardous driving conditions, train service delays, temporary power outages, flooding, and building damage.
“A period of showery conditions during the summer always brings the possibility of some of those showers turning heavy and thundery, possibly with hail,” said Met Office Chief Forecaster Neil Armstrong.
Some of these showers will move slowly, which could intensify local effects and cause rainfall totals of 30 mm or more in remote areas.
These could be accompanied by hail and lightning in the heaviest showers.
It indicates that the drizzle that has been affecting Wimbledon this week will likely persist, but that hasn’t stopped tennis fans from flocking to SW19 after three years away due to Covid and hiding under umbrellas.
Katie Boulter of Great Britain and Rafa Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, are scheduled to play on Centre Court today, but it may be necessary to keep the roof firmly covering the court.
A ridge of high pressure is expected to exert more control over conditions during the first half of next week. For much of the UK, this will mean the possibility of drier, brighter, and more stable conditions.
“We anticipate that the area of high pressure that is currently over the Azores will increasingly extend towards the South West of the UK,” said Daniel Rudman, deputy chief forecaster at the Met Office.
This will result in a lot of warmer and primarily dry weather, especially throughout the south, though it could occasionally bring cloud and showers to the northwest.
Since unusually high temperatures are typically accompanied by a southerly flow of air from southern Europe or North Africa, it is unlikely that this high pressure system, which is bringing air in from the Atlantic, will encourage them.
But, according to the forecast, “we are likely to witness a move away from the below-normal temperatures to levels substantially above average, perhaps even extending to very warm, especially throughout the south.”