Thunderstorms to put an end to glorious bank holiday weather

Torrential rain and thunder and lightning could cause trouble for bank holiday travellers this weekend

Torrential rain could cause flooding on roads, the Met Office warned (Getty)

The early sun may have offered bank holiday revellers a brief ray of hope this weekend, but thunderstorms are on their way and are expected to wreak havoc with travel plans, the Met Office has warned.

Heavy, thundery rain will push north-eastward and put an end to hot temperature on Sunday night, with active thunderstorms likely to break out across southern England from the evening onwards.

Issuing a yellow weather warning, the Met Office said “some disruption” could be expected, with “sudden flooding of roads, transport routes, homes and businesses” possible across the south of England and Wales.

As much as 40mm of rain could fall in an hour in some places.

Exeter-based Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon told the Press Association of Sunday: “If you were to draw a line from the Wash (East Anglia) to the Bristol Channel, anywhere south of that is likely to get fairly intense thundery showers.

“Not everyone will necessarily see them but where you do see them they will be quite intense.”

The Met Office also said lightning strikes could cause disruption to power in some regions.

Scotland and Ireland will be mostly cloudy with patchy rain pushing in from the south later in the night.

Bank holiday Monday is expected to be a cloudy and cooler day in the north of the country, with outbreaks of rain.

The south of England will see heavy cloud and showers, with some heavy rain and thunder building up through the day – the worst of which expected to be confined to the east of the country.

South-west England and Wales could be spared, with sunny spells expected – though a few showers may develop later on, meteorologists said.

Another weather front is set to move in from the west, bringing more grey and damp weather, Mr Claydon said.