Weather experts have warned of the possibility of a brief tornado in the UK today.

With heavy showers in the south of the country today, the Met Office said there's a risk of thunder and lightning, possibly some short-lived funnel clouds or even a brief tornado.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “Bit of a north-south split in our weather through today.

“Northern parts having a lot of fine, sunny weather, meanwhile in the south we’ve seen some wet weather push its way in.

“There will be further showery bursts to come as we go through the rest of today."

But he added: "It’s not out of the question that we could see a funnel cloud, maybe even a brief tornado across parts of the South East."

He said there is a risk of thunder, lightning and hail in the UK’s southern regions.

The Met Office also posted on X: ”With heavy showers in the south today, there's a risk of thunder and lightning, and possibly some short-lived funnel clouds or even a brief tornado.”

As of Friday, 80.6mm of rain had been recorded for the UK this spring, nearly 20mm less than the record low for the full season of 100.7mm set in 1852.

The meteorologist also warned of a cold front bringing cloud and rain across eastern Scotland and then down the eastern side of England overnight, with frost possible across some parts of Scotland.