How was the heat last night, could you sleep? The cold front has worked its way over Wales and northern England now into the West Midlands and SW England, so it doesn’t feel as humid and muggy here with a comfortable night for Northern Ireland and Scotland down to 11C. Ahead of the front it is still gruesome with overnight mins in the mid to high teens and air like a swamp.

The front is weak now with not much cloud and much of the UK has a fine, bright start with just some high cloud. Away to the far NW there is rain this morning and more cloud, dampening the Outer Hebrides. This is the first signs of an Atlantic system which will bring rain and blustery winds to the far west but will gradually work its way across the UK for the end of the working week bringing thunderstorms. So that’s not a band of rain for everyone, it will be cells and clusters of heavy downpours potentially drenching some areas but missing others. It will be Radar watching time when they do begin to bubble up. The Met Office does have a Yellow warning for the thunderstorm risk on Friday afternoon and overnight.

Today looks fine and warm, again hot for SE Britain. It’s dry with light winds. Temperatures up to about 32C in the muggy areas, spanning the twenties C elsewhere.

By Thursday the frontal band will bring freshening southerly winds to Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland as the rain grazes western Ireland. Ahead of that there are signs that hefty showers and thunderstorms could break out over eastern Britain, Cumbria and the Southern Uplands. This threat is through the afternoon and evening with more storms perhaps appearing across the English Channel on Thursday night. The rain band will move over Northern Ireland later in the evening.