Thunderstorm yellow weather warning issued for much of Scotland, including Edinburgh and Glasgow

A yellow weather warning has been issued for thunderstorms for much of Scotland, with heavy rain likely to bring disruption.

The Met Office has issued the alert from midnight to 6pm on Saturday covering large swathes of the country. All of the Central Belt is covered by the warning area, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Lothians, Dundee and Aberdeen.

A yellow weather warning for thunderstorms has been issued by the Met Office. | Met Office/The Scotsman

The alert was issued as parts of Scotland swelter on Friday, with Aviemore forecast to hit as high as 24C. Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said much of Friday would be “hot and humid” with a “small chance” temperatures could reach 30C.

The Met Office said of the alert for Scotland: “Areas of heavy rain and some thunderstorms will develop over Wales, western and northern England and Scotland on Saturday. This area will gradually move northwards during the day, with southern parts of the warning area improving though then with a risk of isolated smaller scale thunderstorms forming.

“Rainfall will vary across the warning area and some places will avoid the heaviest rain. However, a corridor of 15-30mm of rain is likely with some areas perhaps seeing 30-50mm falling in a few hours.

“Event rainfall could reach 60-80mm in some locations. Strong gusts and hail may also accompany some of the thunderstorms.”

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An amber thunderstorm alert has separately been issued for parts of south-east England from 8pm on Friday to 5am on Saturday.

Thunderstorms have been forecast to hit Scotland on Saturday. | Adobe

Parts of eastern England may reach up to 30C on Friday, but the Met Office has warned of thunderstorms later that evening. Cambridge is forecast to reach 29C, while temperatures are expected to reach 27C in Canterbury and 25C in Nottingham and Durham.

Temperatures of 30C would make it the hottest day of 2025, surpassing the 29.3C recorded at Kew Gardens in west London on May 1. It means the parts of the UK could be hotter than Ibiza, Mykonos and Los Angeles.

Mr Deakin said: “A good chunk of England and southern Scotland will be dry for most of Friday.”

He said “beefy showers” were expected on Friday in Wales and the west of England after “a humid start to what will be a very warm day for some on Friday”.

Moving into Friday evening, a yellow weather warning is in place for London, Wales, England’s east and south east, east and south west, as well as the West Midlands, with the Met Office warning they could cause disruption overnight.

“It will be cooler in the far south west, particularly as the heavy downpours arrive in the afternoon,” Mr Deakin said. He also warned of hail, gusty wind and the possibility of flooding as the skies cloud over.

Mr Deakin said there was “a bit of uncertainty” over Saturday, but predicted “heavy rain” in the north of England’s, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland as well as afternoon thunderstorms further south.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued its first yellow heat-health alert of the year, running until 8am on Sunday in the east of England, East Midlands, London, and the south east.

Under UKHSA and the Met Office’s Weather-Health alerting system, a yellow alert means there could be an increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people.

It may lead to an increase in risk to health for individuals aged over 65 or those with pre-existing health conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.