UK weather: New Met Office storm warning for much of England and Wales after lightning and heavy rain

The Met Office has released a new weather warning for thunderstorms covering large parts of England and Wales after a night of heavy rainfall and lightning strikes affected other areas of the country.

There were travel delays this morning and a care home was damaged in West Sussex after thunderstorms hit southeast England overnight - with a Met Office warning staying in place until 10am.

In southwest England and Wales, a similar storm warning was in place until 8am Thursday morning.

But the Met Office has now issued a third yellow weather warning for storms, covering parts of the East Midlands, West Midlands, and Wales, which will remain in force until midnight.

The wet weather and travel chaos may be sandwiched between two of the hottest days of 2024 so far.

Overnight, two buildings in Sussex were damaged by lightning strikes, according to West Sussex Fire & Rescue.

A care home in Elmer, West Sussex, was struck, causing damage to its roof, and a university building in Chichester sustained damage to its roof and power system.

The service confirmed that no one was injured and occupants were relocated while the damage was assessed.

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There were travel delays on South Western Railway trains after the stormy weather, with a landslip causing delays between Axminster and Honiton which were lasted until 11am on Thursday. This affected trains running into London Waterloo, from as far as Exeter St David's.

The Met Office had also warned the overnight storms would disrupt Thursday's morning rush hour, causing "difficult driving conditions and some road closures".

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Temperatures could reach 24C as weather changes

Marco Petagna, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said that some places could see the warmest weather of the year on Thursday, with temperatures reaching as high as 24C.

This comes after Wednesday saw temperatures peak at their highest of the year so far as well, at 22.1C.

"After a night of storms, the rain will ease in the south of England for a while," Mr Petagna said.

"We could see the skies brightening up in a few places and it will be another warm day.

"Parts of the southeast could even get to 24C and beat Wednesday's temperatures.

"But as the skies brighten and temperatures increase, this could spark a few more thundery showers in the afternoon, so it is likely to still be a bit unsettled and the forecast will be changeable over the next few days."

Looking ahead to the Bank Holiday weekend, Mr Petagna said the forecast was a "very mixed picture".

Most of the UK is likely to experience some rain, but temperatures will remain fairly warm in the mid to late teens.

Wednesday was the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures peaking at 22.1C in Santon Downham, in Suffolk, and reaching 21.9C in Aultbea, in the northwest Highlands.

However, other parts of the UK saw lower temperatures in some coastal areas - in Inverbervie, northeast Scotland, temperatures only peaked at 9.9C.