Dramatic lightning illuminates London skies during heatwave thunderstorm

The UK Met Office said 29,074 lightning strikes were recorded in the UK in the 24 hours before 9am on Tuesday as a storm swept across southern England. Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/user/guardianwires?sub_confirmation=1 The thunderstorm came as Europe sweltered through a record-breaking June heatwave. The Met Office warned temperatures could reach 39C on Thursday, most likely in London or the south-east of England Europe weather ► https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jun/23/europe-heatwave-live-news-updates-uk-red-temperature-warnings-40-degrees-france-heat-deaths-crisis-meeting?page=with%3Ablock-6a3a5c6f8f08ac02caa6b4c0#top-of-blog Forty drown across France in heatwave and parts of Spain above 30C at night ► https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/23/heatwave-france-spain-italy-europe The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://support.theguardian.com/ Sign up to the Guardian's free new daily newsletter, First Edition ► http://theguardian.com/first-edition Website ► https://www.theguardian.com Facebook ►https://www.facebook.com/theguardian Instagram ► https://instagram.com/guardian Bluesky ► https://bsky.app/profile/theguardian.com The Guardian on YouTube: The Guardian ► https://www.youtube.com/@theguardian Guardian Australia ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardianaustralia Football Weekly podcast ► https://www.youtube.com/@footballweeklypodcast Guardian Football ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardianfootball Guardian Sport ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardiansport It's Complicated ► https://www.youtube.com/@itscomplicated Guardian Live ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardianlive #heatwave #ukweather #extremeheat #thunderandlightning #lightning