// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Strong winds and thunderstorms kick off the bank holiday weekend
After weeks of scorching heat and drought the summer's swan song is set to be one of frequent downpours as well as gales for some.
Areas of heavy rain and showers are expected to sweep across parts of the UK on each day of the weekend, which is a bank holiday for many.
This could make for some soggy moments at many of the festivals taking place over the coming days.
Strong winds and gales may also cause problems for travellers and holidaymakers in southern parts of the UK.
Frequent lightning accompanied many of the storms this week, including here at Evesham, Worcestershire.
Let us start with the good news - for many of us it won't be a complete washout of a weekend. It is certainly worth looking deeper into your weather app forecasts to see the hourly breakdown as showers can sometimes be tricky to forecast.
Most areas will still see some drier and sunnier moments through the three days, with parts of north and west Scotland perhaps seeing very little rainfall at all. During the sunnier spells the late August sunshine still has enough strength to make it feels reasonably warm too.
However, on Saturday the forecast shows several zones of heavy showers sweeping across England and Wales especially. Like recent days some of these could be torrential and thundery, especially in the southern half of England and Wales. For northern parts of England the showers are likely to merge into longer spells of rain during the afternoon.
Given the downpours already this week, some parts of the Midlands and northern England are more susceptible to the risk of flash flooding.
A large portion of Scotland and Northern Ireland will stay dry.