Severe weather warning as storms set to replace Black Country heatwave
The relentless heat is set to be replaced by thunder, rain and maybe even hail across the West Midlands.
Temperatures have been higher than Ibiza and Tenerife, but the humidity and heat seen across the Black Country and Staffordshire is set to make way for storms and potential flash floods
The Met Office had issued a severe caution for heat on Thursday, but now the national weather agency is warning storms and heavy rain moving southwards on Scotland on Wednesday and Thursday.
The yellow low-level warning covers all of the West Midlands and Staffordshire, including Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Shropshire.
The Met Office said: "Bouts of rain, heavy and thundery at times, will move in from the west to affect parts of southern Scotland and northern England from the early hours of Wednesday.
"More extensive thunderstorms may then break out over a larger part of England and Wales from late Wednesday afternoon onwards into Wednesday night, leading to torrential downpours, frequent lightning and a chance of hail.
"This could result in some disruption, more likely from late Wednesday afternoon, which may include sudden localised flooding of transport routes, homes and businesses."
Temperatures today were expected to reach a max of around 27 (80 F), while pollen levels were also high. The warm and muggy atmosphere was due to cool in the evening to 13 C (55 F).
Tomorrow the humidity will increase again with temperatures expected to rise to 27 C (81 F), before the storms and severe weather arrives.
By Thursday temperatures should be back to between 13 and 20 C (55 and 68 F) and the cooler conditions are set to remain over the coming weekend.
It comes after basking sunshine arrived over the weekend, followed by a warm Monday, when temperatures reached 31 C (88 F) in Wolverhampton and Stafford.
The hot weather saw more people in the West Midlands call 999 on Sunday than did on New Year's Eve - traditionally the busiest day of the year.
It reached 30 C (86 F) in West Bromwich and Dudley, and 29 C (84 F) in Walsall.
This was higher than in Ibiza where the temperature only went as high as 28 C (82 F). In Marbella it went up to 31 C (88 F) and Cyprus 30 C (86 F).
