THE heatwave which has provided glorious heat looks set to end as thunderstorms and heavy rain moves in across England.

Forecasters have said spells of intense heat will come to an end over the weekend, with conditions into next week being "generally wet."

For the past few days, the North East and North Yorkshire has baked in hot weather as the mercury rose in excess of 27c in some places.

Hot temperatures came as almost all lockdown restrictions, and mandatory use of face coverings, were relaxed on Monday.

The Met Office, which has issued a yellow weather warning across parts of England and Wales for Saturday and Sunday, warned some areas could see a month's worth of rain. 

But not including the region just yet, forecasters still say the weather across the region generally will still have a last glimpse of warmer weather before the rain moves in.

The forecast said early low cloud would retreat back to the coast by the day, leaving another day of plenty of warm sunshine, with temperatures hitting 25c on Friday.

But that changes on Saturday with lower temperatures, and then some drizzle along the coastal areas of the region on Sunday.

It will then turn "unsettled" from Monday morning as parts of the region are hit with spells of rain.

Meteorologist Tom Morgan said that while some areas within the warning zone could see a month’s worth of rain, the storms were unlikely to be as bad as those seen on Tuesday.

Mr Morgan said: “In contrast to yesterday when it was really torrential downpours and heavy hail, the weekend weather is just going to be more generally wet.”

The periods of hot weather this week have been prompting the emergency services to warn against the dangers of going into open water following 12 confirmed water-related deaths in the last four days.

Derbyshire Police said the body of a 15-year-old boy has been recovered from a stretch of the River Trent in Swarkestone after he got into difficulty while swimming in the water on Tuesday.

West Yorkshire Police said officers were called to Stocking Lane in Knottingley, West Yorkshire, at 5.28pm on Tuesday and recovered the body of a 15-year-old boy, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Merseyside Police said that a man had died and two others were taken to hospital following an incident at Crosby Beach.

The force said officers were called at around 7.10pm on Tuesday following reports of three men in their 20s getting into difficulties in the sea.

Two teenagers died in water in Greater Manchester and Oxfordshire on Sunday, a man in his 50s in North Yorkshire, and a man in his 20s in Sheffield.

In Dorset, a man died after falling from rocks on Sunday.

And on Monday, the body of a man was recovered from a lake at Pugneys Country Park in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Heatwaves have been becoming more frequent and extreme because of climate change driven by human activity, with scientific analysis finding events such as 2019’s record heat in the UK and Europe and the devastating heatwave in Canada and the US in recent weeks were made much more likely and more severe by global warming.

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