Weather is forecasting three days of London weather thunderstorms next week after the current heatwave. The first storms are expected on Thursday night, July 16, with more in the early hours of Friday and again on Saturday.
For Londoners, the timing is the main detail. Weather puts the first window from 7pm to midnight on July 16, then another from 2am to 5am on July 17, followed by further thunderstorms on Friday afternoon and evening, before another storm on July 18 from 2pm to 7pm.
Adam Schwartz on X
That forecast follows a recent spell of intense summer weather. On June 23, writer Adam Schwartz posted on X: "It’s 3.45am in London and it’s been thunderstorming for almost two straight hours. One of the biggest and longest storms I can remember in my almost 35 years in this city."
He also said the storm was one of the biggest and longest he could remember in almost 35 years in London. Another onlooker said they were woken around 3:30am by the loudest clap of thunder they had ever known, a reminder that the coming storms may arrive after a heatwave but still bring a noisy overnight shift in conditions.
Matt Jukes and 999
The weather risk sits alongside pressure already showing up in public services. The UK recorded its eighth day at or above 34C in a calendar year on Thursday, July 9, beating the previous high of seven days set in 1976 and in 2020.
On Friday, Deputy Metropolitan Police commissioner Matt Jukes urged people to hold back on non-emergency calls. He said: "Call us on the things we need to. Please hold back on the calls we don’t need to take. Officers out there are melting in the heat but they will be there to come to you if you need us."
The London police force said people should only call 999 if there is an immediate danger to life, someone is using or threatening violence, or a crime is happening right now. That leaves Londoners balancing a forecast for three storm periods with hot-weather disruption that has already pushed demand higher.
London Weather on July 18
The practical takeaway is straightforward: the storm windows are specific enough for people to adjust travel, outdoor plans and overnight timing across Thursday night, Friday and Saturday. Weather’s forecast now puts the first test on July 16, then again in the early hours of July 17, with another round later that day and on July 18.
How severe the thunderstorms are expected to be in London has not been spelled out, so the dates and times are the only fixed guide for now.
