Thousands of lightning strikes light up sky across southern England

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Thousands of lightning strikes light up sky across southern EnglandImage source, Wapping Weather / Weather WatchersImage caption, Ligntning flashes over Wapping in London in the early hours of Tuesday morning. BySimon King , Lead Weather Presenter and Henry MoorePublished23 June 2026, 09:28 BSTUpdated 28 minutes agoThousands of lightning strikes lit up the sky overnight, as thunderstorms caused flash flooding and travel disruption across parts of England. The storms rolled into the south west on Monday evening and moved towards the south east during the night, with people reporting being woken up in the early hours by loud crashes of thunder and flashes of lightning.

London Fire Brigade said it responded to 400 calls overnight, including two house fires believed to be caused by lightning strikes, while a house in Bristol was set ablaze during a storm earlier in the evening. It comes as England braces for temperatures of up to 40C, with the Met Office issuing a rare red alert set to come into force on Wednesday. Floods, fires and travel disruption after overnight storms, as UK set for record June heat Met Office data suggests there were 29,000 lightning strikes in a 24-hour period, with some very heavy rain in some areas leading to flash flooding.

The Details

The intense thunderstorms developed due to a couple of factors. The first is that it was very warm if not hot across southern England on Monday afternoon and temperatures soared into the high 20s and low 30s. This heat transfers into the atmosphere, giving it a lot of energy.

That energy is then primed for a trigger to covert it into big cumulonimbus - thunder - clouds. The trigger was an atmospheric disturbance higher in the atmosphere - which essentially allowed all that stored energy to be released, resulting in the intense thunderstorms. Image source, Gardener Patrick / Weather WatchersImage caption, The storms travelled across the south of England from Monday evening into the early hours of Tuesday Image source, Marzy / Weather WatchersImage caption, The overnight storm caused flash-flooding, such as here in Hammersmith, LondonHow to keep your home cool in hot weather Published23 hours agoWhat are the heat exhaustion and heatstroke symptoms?

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The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.