The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across swathes of the country as a period of record-breaking hot weather finally comes to an end.

An area of Britain stretching from Edinburgh to Middlesbrough has been told to brace for storms from 11am on Wednesday, with travel disruption and flooding predicted to follow.

"Heavy showers and some thunderstorms are expected to develop across parts of southeast Scotland and northeast England on Wednesday, clearing east into the North Sea later in the afternoon," the Met Office says.

"Whilst some places may see relatively small amounts of rainfall, a few locations could see 15-20mm of rain in an hour or less leading to some impacts from surface water flooding."

PICTURED: Dramatic clouds and rain over St Mary's lighthouse at Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear. Whitley Bay is among the areas impacted by today's yellow warning

PICTURED: Scotland and the North East at 4pm on Wednesday. Temperatures are set to fall to 12C as thunderstorms are poised to sweep across into the North Sea

The alert is slated to end at 6pm - but before then, meteorologists say that powercuts and public transports delays may be likely.

The full list of areas affected under the warning is: