UK weather: Amber warning for thunderstorms for London and parts of southern England

An amber alert for thunderstorms is in place for London and most of southeast England, with forecasters warning of "torrential" rain.

The Met Office has also issued yellow warnings for much of the rest of England, stating there's a risk of sudden flooding, travel delays and power cuts on Friday and into Saturday.

Scotland has a yellow warning for rain from 4pm tomorrow until midday on Sunday.

Saturday's amber warning is in place for an area from Hampshire to Kent and up to Cambridge, including all of London, from 4am until 11am on Saturday.

Between 20 and 40mm of rain could fall in one hour in the amber warning zone, going up to 70 to 100mm in just a few hours where heavy downpours persist.

According to the Met Office, some communities are "likely" to become cut off if roads flood, with flooded areas likely suffering cancellations to train and bus services, as well as power cuts.

Flooding of homes and businesses is also "likely", according to the Met Office.

An earlier yellow warning is in place from 9pm on Friday until midnight and covers a similar area in the south.

A second - for parts of the East Midlands, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber - is from 11am on Friday to 8pm.

There is also a yellow warning coming into effect for the southwest of England on Sunday at midday until 3am the next day.

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Spray and flooding could cause road closures and even cut some communities off, the Met Office has said, adding that lightning strikes could damage buildings.

Sky weather producer Joanna Robinson said: "Heavy, thundery rain will move in from France on Friday night, pushing northwards across much of England on Saturday, reaching Scotland later in the day.

"The rain will be torrential in places, bringing up to 30mm in less than an hour, with 60-90 mm in less than three hours for some isolated spots."

Recent dry weather could increase the risk of flash flooding, as torrential rain falling on hard, baked ground will run off rather than being easily soaked in.

Despite the rain, it will still be hot - with temperatures expected to reach the high 20s for much of England.

It will remain unsettled on Sunday and into next week, Robinson added.

"There'll be torrential rain for some, with further weather warnings likely when confidence in the detail improves," she said.

"The unsettled conditions will continue early next week, but exactly where the worst of the storms will be is currently very uncertain.

"There are signs that high pressure will help settle things down from the west on Wednesday."

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The wet weather comes as England is struggling with its driest start to a year since 1976.

Across the country, rainfall was 20% less than the long-term average in June, which also saw two heatwaves rive unusually high demand for water, the Environment Agency said.

With national reservoir levels at 75.6% and currently continuing to fall, droughts have been declared in multiple regions.

Hosepipe bans are also hitting millions of homes, with Yorkshire Water announcing restrictions as its reservoir storage dropped to just 53.8%.

(c) Sky News 2025: UK weather: Amber warning for thunderstorms for London and parts of southern England