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Thunderstorms are expected to bring more lightning, hail and downpours to parts of Scotland this weekend, following damp and disappointing conditions for the start of August.
The Met Office issued a yellow thunderstorm warning until midnight on Friday covering central Scotland.
A separate yellow thunderstorm warning has been issued for the same area from 4am until midnight on Saturday, with heavy showers set to cause travel disruption and flooding in a few places.
Forecasters said some areas could be lashed by 20 to 30mm of rain over the space of an hour on Saturday.
STV Weather meteorologist Sean Batty said: “After a very dry July for most of the country, and for some parts of the south west, the driest July on record we’ve seen a return to typical August weather.
“August is usually our wettest summer month and it’s also the point in the year where the heat has built up across Europe which also means that showers can become very thundery too. It’s these showers that bring us the images we see across the continent a lot during the summer of big hailstones and torrents of water.
“We’ve got one such thundery plume crossing the country at the moment, with some very potent showers bringing intense downpours. Some areas of central and western Scotland could see as much as 30mm fall in the space of an hour, which means there’s a risk of about a quarter of a month’s worth of rain from just one shower.
‘We’ve got one such thundery plume crossing the country at the moment, with some very potent showers bringing intense downpours. Some areas of central and western Scotland could see as much as 30mm fall in the space of an hour.’
STV Meteorologist Sean Batty
“If you’re unlucky and have several of these showers then you could be looking at a month’s worth of rain before the day is out. So far the most intense showers have been recorded around Kilbirnie, Greenock and the western side of Loch Ness where as much as 20mm has fallen in just a few hours.
“Rainfall of this level brings the obvious risk of flooding as it’s so much in such a small space of time which overwhelms drainage meaning roads fill with water – this is particularly hazardous on motorways where drivers are suddenly faced with large puddles which can lead to accidents.
“I expect the heaviest showers to occur from Lochaber and Lochalsh down the western side of the country to Ayrshire.
“Again these will be intense with similar downpours again leading to some flooding issues. Sometimes in these situations it can be hard to prepare because things change very quickly in such a short space of time, and as usual some places will completely escape them and just see large clouds in the distance.
“Sunday will see the heaviest showers moving to the east of the country with the wettest area likely to be in Moray and Aberdeenshire by then.
“The unsettled and more changeable weather looks set to continue until at least mid-August, but there are some tentative signs of settling later.”
UK Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said: “The reason for this is low pressure is in charge of the UK’s weather at the moment – it’s a very slow-moving area of low pressure, so it’s not going anywhere quickly.
“It’s leading to bands of heavy showers and thunderstorms which you have seen through the course of Friday, and we have seen flooding in places too.
“This is going to continue through the weekend, particularly across the northern half of the UK where the showers will be slow-moving compared to southern areas, where it’s a little bit windier.”
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