Warning of more thunderstorms after record run of hot weather

Londoners were warned to brace for more thunderstorms today after central London saw the longest stretch of high temperatures in almost six decades.

The Met Office said temperatures yesterday surpassed 34C in the city for the sixth day in a row — the first time that has happened since at least 1961.

The heatwave was broken by thunderstorms in some parts of the capital yesterday with Twickenham in south-west London experiencing hailstorms.

Weather warnings remained in place today. Yellow thunderstorm warnings — meaning there is a small chance of flooding and travel disruption — have been issued for the next five days.

They apply to much of England, Wales, parts of Northern Ireland and south-west Scotland.

A Met Office spokesperson said it was hard to predict exactly where thunderstorms would hit.

She said: “It’s not often we get temperatures this high over several days, and that is triggering thunderstorms.

"You can have a deluge somewhere and then not far away there is nothing at all, it is very hard to predict where they will hit.”