Thunderstorm warnings have been issued for much of England and Wales on Thursday before an unsettled bank holiday weekend, the Met Office said.
Some areas could see between 50-75mm of rainfall on Thursday, along with lightning and hail, which could cause some disruption, along with warm temperatures with highs of 27 or 28C.
Two yellow thunderstorm warnings have been issued for Thursday – one covering London and the South East between 2am and 8am and the other for Wales and much of England from 5am until 10pm.
The South East warning area could see 30-40mm of rainfall and “fairly large hail between 1-2cm”, while the bigger warning area could have more than 75mm of rain through 12 hours in parts, Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said.
In Birmingham, West Midlands Fire Service confirmed it had been called out to “significant flooding” around Curbar Road, Thornbridge Avenue and Haddon Road on Wednesday evening.
“Crews are being supported by West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council. Please avoid the area, where possible,” the service said in a post on X.
Birmingham City Council advised people to “take care and avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water”.
Temperatures will drop closer to average for the time of the year over the weekend, with highs of 24 or 25C on Friday, then 22 or 23C until Monday.
Mr Snell said of Thursday: “We’re watching the risk of some heavy rain and thunderstorms moving up from the south.
“On Thursday as we wake up there will be a band of potentially heavy rain and thundery rain stretching across parts of the UK.
“For parts of the Midlands and Wales it’s going to be quite a wet day really.
“We could see some further thunderstorms move into the south east around Thursday evening.”
Friday will see further heavy rain and thunderstorms across the UK, before further rain moves in on Saturday, and a mix of sunshine and showers on Sunday and Monday.
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