A series of thunder and lightning storms lit up the skies over Scotland from Wednesday afternoon into the early hours of yesterday morning, with forecasters warning that more severe weather is on its way today.
Hours after swathes of the country baked in temperatures approaching 30C, the storms brought a record-breaking number of lightning strikes as well as torrential rain.
The worst of the weather was confined to the east coast, allowing members of the public to take photographs of the lightning.
In Edinburgh, people shared images of the dramatic storms over the city centre in the early hours of yesterday, which were then reposted by social media users.
Eyewitnesses also captured pictures of the lightning as far afield as the Borders, Dundee and Banffshire. The storms were at their most fierce from around midnight until 1:30am.
Some of the most powerful images were taken in Aberdeen city centre by Scott McKeand, showing the lightning striking over buildings.
Scotland Hydro Electric Power Distribution said there were several lightning strikes to the network but no major problems were experienced.
He said: “We had quite a few of strikes, from Oban and the Western Isles and Skye to the Highlands and up towards Shetland. We had a few in the Tayside area, too.
“There were one or two power cuts but they were quite minor.”
Although conditions were more settled yesterday, the Met Office has issued a yellow “be aware” warning for more storms in the south of Scotland from this evening through to tomorrow lunchtime.
It said the isolated heavy, and possibly severe thunderstorms could lead to torrential downpours and even hail showers.
Nick Prebble, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: “Friday will likely stay nice and dry across most places and temperatures will be a little warmer, around 27C or 28C, although there will be some unsettled weather Friday night with more thunderstorms.”
The worst disruption from the storms came in England, with more than 50,000 people in the north-east suffering power cuts. A nursery owner in north Yorkshire watched helplessly as up to 5,000 greenhouse panes were smashed by giant hailstones.
