Met Office announces yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across North East following heatwave

Intense thundery downpours are likely say forecasters as the heatwave is set to draw to a close from Sunday, August 14, and Monday, August 15.

Rain and the chance of lightening and hail is set to move south from Scotland with the yellow weather warning in place across the North East and much of the UK for Monday and Tuesday.

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Jason Kelly said: “The current hot weather will make way for a thundery breakdown from the west, which will spread south and east in the early part of next week.

"Ahead of this, isolated but intense thunderstorms are possible Sunday and Monday.

“The warnings highlight the chance of some places seeing around 50mm of rain falling in a three-hour period in the north, with some areas further south possibly seeing around 30mm of rain in a three-hour period.

"Hail and frequent lightning are also possible as part of these downpours and represents an additional hazard.

“We’re continuing to monitor how these thundery showers develop on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

"There’s a chance of some quite intense downpours at times for some areas and we’re refining the likely location of these in the coming days.”

The rain is expected to mean the chance of some surface water flooding.

It comes after days of hot weather which has seen people flock to the beaches and beauty spots in Sunderland, South Shields, Hartlepool and Northumberland.