Thunderstorm warning across Scotland after days of hot weather

Scotland is being braced for thunderstorms and heavy rain after days of hot weather.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning covering the country, apart from Shetland, until 3am on Saturday.

The forecaster has warned that there is a small chance homes and businesses could flood, and that transport networks could be subject to delays and cancellations.

Some parts of the country were awoken to heavy rain and thunderstorms in the early hours of Friday morning.

Further thunderstorms and heavy rain are possible this afternoon before becoming confined to more northern areas of Scotland later in the day.

Frequent lightning, large hail and gusty winds with stronger storms have also been forecast.

Firefighters were called to two dwelling fires in the early hours of Friday, but it is not known if they were related to the storm.

They were called to a fire in Dalkeith, Midlothian, at 3.24am and to one in Aberlady, East Lothian, at 3.45am and extinguished both blazes with no reports of any injuries.

The weather comes after Scotland experienced the hottest day of the year so far.

Temperatures reached a high of 31.2C at Threave in Dumfries and Galloway on Thursday, according to Met Office data, while Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire and Auchencruive in South Ayrshire also hit the 30C mark.

The record June temperature for Scotland is 32.3C, which was recorded at Ochtertyre in Perthshire on June 18, 1893.

The Met Office warning says: “Spells of heavy rain and thunderstorms initially over north-west Scotland are likely to become more widespread during Friday morning.

“Further thunderstorms and spells of heavy rain are possible in the afternoon before becoming confined to more northern areas of Scotland later in the day.

“Rainfall amounts will be highly variable but narrow corridors of 20-30mm falling in one hour and potentially 30-50mm in three hours is possible. Frequent lightning, large hail (2-4cm diameter) and locally gusty winds with stronger storms.”

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued 18 flood alerts and one flood warning.