Saturday is most likely to be the hottest day of the year as the mercury is tipped to 33C, but forecasters are warning to expect storms.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for “thunderstorms” which is in place from 2pm until 9pm on Saturday in Oxford, Manchester, Nottingham, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Wales.
For Northern Ireland, northern England, southern Scotland the yellow weather warning is in place from 2pm until 11.59pm this evening.
Met Office chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen said: “Although much of the UK will see high temperatures and sunny skies continue on Saturday, in what has a possibility of being the hottest day of the year so far, there’s also the potential for some thunderstorms, which has resulted in a yellow warning being issued for much of central England and parts of east Wales.
“Temperatures will begin to trend downwards from Saturday in the far north-west of Scotland, with a cold front gradually moving south through the weekend, bringing with it the risk of some heavy and thundery downpours on Sunday as well.
“However, the south-east will hold on to the high temperatures the longest and could still reach 32C on Sunday.”
The Environment Agency has issued a warning to drivers to expect “flooding” and expect “isolated intense downpours.”
Environment Agency lood duty manager Chris Wilding warned, “Significant surface water flooding is possible but not expected across parts of England on Saturday afternoon and evening due to isolated intense downpours.
“We urge people not to drive through floodwater – it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.”
