Met Office issues 10-hour thunderstorm warning for Lancashire and Cumbria with heavy rain on the way

The Met Office has issued a 10-hour thunderstorm warning for Lancashire and Cumbria today (June 18) with 'heavy' rain on the way.

The yellow warning comes into force at 11am and will last until 9pm tonight. It covers central, eastern and northern parts of Lancashire including Preston, Leyland, Blackburn, Hyndburn, Rossendale, the Ribble Valley, Pendle, Fleetwood, Lancaster and Morecambe.

It also covers much of the north of England, including large swathes of Cumbria and the Lake District. The Met Office warns that 'heavy showers and thunderstorms may lead to some disruption to travel'.

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The warning states: "Showers developing later on Tuesday morning, becoming heavy with some thunderstorms through the afternoon and early evening. Some of these will be slow-moving with lightning, hail and also heavy rain and a few places seeing 20-30 mm of rain in one hour."

Driving conditions may be affected in heavy downpours and delays to train services are possible. It added that 'short term loss of power is possible' and there is a chance of some damage to a 'few buildings' due to lightning strikes.

In our region, rain is most likely to fall from around 6pm this evening. Before then, largely cloudy weather is forecast.

The warning comes ahead of a predicted 'shift' in the weather conditions across the UK. Forecasters predict that a spell of generally settled weather will bring “more summer-like” conditions to much of the country, particularly towards the end of this week.

It comes after temperatures so far this month have been a few degrees below their seasonal average, affecting small businesses which rely on tourism or high street foot traffic at the start of summer. The UK experienced its coolest first 10 days of June since 2020, in contrast to the hottest June on record, seen this time last year, where the mercury rose as high as 32.2C in Lincolnshire and Surrey.

Oli Claydon, spokesman for the Met Office, said: "As we progress through June, obviously the temperatures are going to generally increase on average anyway, but it will feel more summer-like, especially in the sunshine. The absence of wind over the next couple of days will help as well."

A ridge of high pressure will initially bring cloud on Wednesday before thinning out for further brighter spells across the country, which will continue into Thursday for southern areas with light showers again likely further north, the forecaster said. More changeable weather will bring rain at times throughout Friday, with temperatures still “recovering” in the south to around average and still higher but more “subdued” further north.

Highs of 24C could be seen in south-east England on Monday, Thursday and Friday with low twenties possible on the other days. The average maximum temperature in June for the City of London is 21.3C.