UK braces for 39C heat after 29,000 lightning strikes overnight

Lightning crossed England overnight as the Met Office recorded 29,074 strikes in the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday, with 18,540 over Somerset alone. The storm burst arrived just as forecasters warned that parts of southern England could face highs of around 39C on Wednesday and Thursday, pushing the country from one extreme into another within the same week.

The Met Office issued a Red Extreme Heat Warning alongside Amber warnings for much of England and Wales, underlining how exceptional the heat spell is for late June. The agency said the current UK June temperature record is 35.6C, set in 1976 and matched in 1957, and noted that runs of three consecutive days at 35C have only happened a handful of times, including in June 1976, August 1990 and August 2020.

The overnight lightning was not just a dramatic count. The Met Office said thunderstorms are more common in the warmer months and can bring lightning strikes, flash flooding, power outages and travel disruption, a mix of hazards that now sit alongside the heat itself. London Fire Brigade said it responded to around 400 calls overnight, including two house fires believed to have been caused by lightning strikes and flooding of homes.

The damage risk extends beyond emergency response. Train operators warned that hot weather could affect journeys across southern England later in the week, adding pressure to rail infrastructure already exposed to storm disruption and high temperatures. On a national network, repeated shocks of this kind test not only roads and rails but also the ability of local services, emergency crews and utilities to absorb fast-moving weather events.

The pattern is what makes this episode stand out. The same atmosphere producing violent overnight lightning is also setting up a period of extreme heat with the potential to challenge records and strain public preparedness. For England and Wales, the message from the Met Office is stark: the weather is not simply hot or stormy, but increasingly volatile in ways that can hit homes, transport and essential services at once.