UK weather: Huge yellow thunderstorm warning covers 90% of England as 'torrential downpours' expected

The East Midlands, East of England, London, South East of England, North East England, North West England, South West England, West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber and Wales have all been identified as areas impacted by the weather warning.

“Multiple rounds of heavy showers and thunderstorms are forecast on Thursday, and may lead to some disruption,” the Met Office said.

The UK’s national weather service added: “Whilst there is some uncertainty, thunderstorms may affect southeast England during the early hours of Thursday, perhaps also extending into parts of East Anglia.

“Where these occur, rain accumulations of 25-40 mm are possible in 1 hour, with a small risk of over 60mm in 2-3 hours, and accompanied by frequent lightning at times.

"Elsewhere, an area of showery rain is likely to develop and move northeastwards across parts of Wales, the Midlands and northern England.

“This will be heavy and perhaps thundery at times, persisting through Thursday morning before easing towards midday.

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“Some areas could receive rain accumulations of 25-50 mm over the course of a few hours.”

England’s Environment Agency has so far only issued 10 flood alerts, with most in the Midlands and North East.

The Met Office’s latest warning comes as Britons continue to suffer from a summer of turbulent weather.

Many were hopeful summer had finally arrived earlier this week, with Tuesday going down as the hottest day of the year so far.

Temperatures reached 32C in both Heathrow and Kew Gardens.

The UK Health Security Agency were even forced to issue yellow heat health alerts across all of England’s regions.

This is the second of four tiers of alerts, below amber and red, and means the heat is "unlikely to impact most people" but could affect the elderly and vulnerable.

However, the Met Office still forecasts high temperatures later today.

London is expected to see mercury hit 28C at 4pm, with Cardiff and Manchester registering 25C and 24C respectively.