The Met Office has updated an impending thunderstorm warning for this week, with all areas of the North East now expected to be affected by the adverse weather.
Forecasters first issued the 24-hour Yellow thunderstorm alert on Monday (July 29), which initially only covered as far north as Peterlee in County Durham along with most of England and part of Wales. However, the warning, which is in force for the full 24 hours of Thursday, August 1, has now been extended to cover almost the entire region, including all of Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside and South Tyneside, and most of Northumberland as far north as Alnwick.
The Met Office warned that multiple rounds of heavy showers and thunderstorms may lead to some disruption on Thursday following a warm and sunny few days for much of the country, with the possibility of spray and sudden flooding leading to difficult driving conditions and some road closures. There is also a chance of delays or cancellations to train and bus services where flooding or lightning strikes occur.
In addition, there is a "slight chance" that power cuts could impact homes and businesses, that properties could sustain damage from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds, and that fast flowing or deep floodwater may cause danger to life, forecasters said. However, the North East may miss out on the worst of the stormy conditions, with the heaviest rain on Thursday expected in central, southern and eastern England and the likelihood of disruption currently classed as 'low'.
"An area of showery rain is likely to develop and move north-eastwards across parts of Wales, the Midlands and northern England," the Met Office said. "This will be heavy and perhaps thundery at times, persisting through Thursday morning before easing towards midday. Some areas could receive rain accumulations of 25-50 mm over the course of a few hours."
At the time of writing on Tuesday morning, the forecast for Thursday, August 1 in Newcastle is as follows:
- 7am: 16°C / Light shower / 60% chance of precipitation
- 10am: 18°C / Sunny intervals / 30% chance of precipitation
- 1pm: 20°C / Sunny intervals / 20% chance of precipitation
- 4pm: 22°C / Sunny intervals / 20% chance of precipitation
- 7pm: 21°C / Sunny intervals / 10% chance of precipitation
- 10pm: 18°C / Partly cloudy / 10% chance of precipitation
It comes as the North East is set to join most of the UK in finally welcoming some summer-worthy weather this week, with the potential for some parts of the country to reach heatwave criteria at the end of July. The jet stream weakened to the west of the UK over the weekend, generating an area of high pressure - meaning the air is sinking from higher in the atmosphere, which brings drier, settled and sunnier weather, the Met Office explained.
A UK heatwave threshold is met when a location records a period of at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold. This threshold varies by county, standing at 25°C in the North East - and the forecast for the week ahead isn't far off, with highs in the early to mid-twenties expected consistently across the region over the next few days. Read the full forecast here.
Join our WhatsApp communities
ChronicleLive is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our communities.
We have a number of communities to join, so you can choose which one you want to be part of and we'll send you the latest news direct to your phone. You could even join them all!
To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press 'join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.
Join the ChronicleLive Breaking News and Top Stories community
Join our Court & Crime community
Join the Things to do in Newcastle and the North East community
Join our Northumberland community
