UK lightning tracker: Storm chaos arrives in Britain as maps show 220-mile blitz

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Just following on from the post below this one, Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesman, has said there's a small chance of fast-flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life in the Met Office's yellow weather warning area, which is in effect until midnight.

The Environment Agency (EA) has warned people to prepare for floods from London to the west of England.

It has warned properties may flood and there may be travel disruption.

Low-lying roads and footpaths by the Thames are expected to flood from Putney Bridge to Teddington Weir, west London, when the river reaches high tide at 5.30pm, according to the EA.

People near the Lower Avon river, south-west England, were told to "consider activating any property flood protection products."

More rain is set to fall which could raise the Lower Avon's levels and the Ringwood, Christchurch and Moyles Court areas are most at risk.

Flooding on low-lying land and roads is possible on Friday evening and into Saturday near the rivers Clyst and Culm, in Devon.

A flood alert also remains in place in Scrase Bridge and West Common Streams near Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

EA said both rivers had returned to near normal following "intense" rainfall on Thursday but further showers are expected and "any river rise and flooding will likely occur quickly following intense downpours".

The Met Office expects outbreaks of heavy rain to persist in the south this afternoon.

In its latest post on X, the forecaster says it will be drier and brighter in the north with plenty of sunny spells.

The latest lightning detector map from LightningMaps.org shows strikes ceasing across the south now.

Netweather's detector also shows no lightning strikes as of midday today.

A powerful typhoon made landfall on the Chinese tropical vacation island of Hainan on Friday after sweeping south of Hong Kong.

The Hainan province’s meteorological service said typhoon Yagi, which was earlier packing winds of up to 152 miles per hour near its centre, made landfall in the province’s Wenchang city at around 4.20pm local time. It is expected to sweep towards other parts of the island before moving to the Beibu Gulf.

China’s national meteorological authorities has said Yagi is the strongest autumn typhoon to have landed in China.

They predict it will make a second landfall in Xuwen County in neighbouring Guangdong province on Friday night.

This latest map from Netweather shows the number of lightning strikes reducing. The screenshot of the map below was taken at 10.35am.

Netweather now reports that there have been 568 strikes so far today.

The second map from LightningMaps.org shows activity around Swansea. It was taken at 10.40am.

Forecaster Netweather says there have been 558 lightning strikes so far today.

A map generated using the Met Office's LEELA lightning detection system shows parts of Sussex, Berkshire and Wiltshire are among the locations where strikes have been detected.

The map below shows where lightning has struck so far as of 9.50am today.

Friday's rain could take the total falling on parts of the area affected by the Met Office yellow weather warning to between 50 and 100mm in 48 hours.

Okehampton in Devon saw 44.4mm on Thursday, according to the Met Office.

Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern has said the outbreaks of rain we've seen arrive through Thursday across the south and south west will essentially keep going during Friday and into the weekend.

He added: "There will be ebbs and flows in the rainfall. There'll be pulses of heavier rain at times and then lighter rain at times."

After a relatively calm start to Friday, he said the rain would become "heavier and more persistent through the morning" with the wettest weather likely to the south of the M4.

Clouds are expected to move north in the evening with the rain easing off.

This rain map from the Met Office shows where is expected to get a drenching at 8.30am today.

While parts of the south and southern Wales look set for rain, the south west and rest of the country looks as if it will be largely dry.

Households in England have already been urged to take steps to protect themselves and their homes against flooding this week.

There's more about that in our report here.

Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir is warning of the risk of thunder and "heavy downpours" in the south, but most places will be dry and feel warm.

Western Scotland and Northern Ireland are in for a cracking day, according to Ms Nasir, who says temperatures in Scotland could rise as high as 26C or 27C.

Birmingham could see 26C, Manchester 25C and East Anglia 24C to 25C.

Ms Nasir warns the risk of thunder could lead to problems on the roads in the south, with spray and poor visibility possible.

There is some hope for part of southern England as the sun could come out across the Home Counties later today, according to the Met Office.

The Met Office is warning of possible travel disruption amid "lively downpours" in the south, pushing into southern Wales.

Forecaster Netweather says a plume of warm/moist air moving across southern Britain from the near continent has been leading to "strong instability" across southern England since Thursday night and through Friday.

It adds deep convection is forecast to develop and evolve into a cluster of storms early on Friday across Belgium and the far north of France.

Netweather says the cluster of storms then moves west across southern England on Friday morning, with storms developing and extending west towards Wales into the afternoon.

The forecaster continues: "These storms are likely to produce very heavy rainfall... [W]e cannot discount isolated supercell structures producing isolated large hail, flash-flooding and isolated damaging wind gusts.

"Also, frequent lightning will be possible locally. If cloud bases are low enough, a brief weak tornado can't be ruled out too."

The map below shows where lightning has struck as of 7.48am this morning.

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