Exact date thunderstorms to hit UK after 33C heatwave

29 July 2024, 11:57

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

The Met Office has issued a thunderstorm warning for this week, covering most of the UK.

Brits will get the chance to bask in scorching temperatures today and tomorrow, high of 33C on Tuesday in London and the south east of England.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) have issued a health alert, lasting until 11pm on Wednesday.

But the heat will quickly turn to thunderstorms with the Met Office's warning coming into effect just an hour later at midnight on Thursday.

It will run until 11:59 later that evening.

"Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop on Thursday and may lead to some disruption," the Met Office said.

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Temperatures could peak at 33C in London on Tuesday, while the rest of the country experiences highs five degrees higher than usually, says the Met Office.If temperatures stay this high, the UK could officially experience a heatwave.

A heatwave is officially defined as a location recording consecutively high temperatures, usually above or around 26C for three days in a row.

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge said: "There is certainly potential that it could become an actual official heatwave, because in the spells you've had before it hasn't actually met all the criteria."

Partridge continued: "If there's not, it's very close to it, and if you're out and about and a member of the public then it's going to feel like a heatwave anyway, because also overnight things are going to turn a little bit more humid and muggy day-on-day as well."

The hottest day of the year so far was on July 19 when a high of 31.9C was recorded in central London.