As unseasonably strong winds and heavy rain sweep the country, three yellow weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office, amid fears that persistent and slow-moving downpours could spark flooding and travel disruption.

A warning for thunderstorms has been in place across a large part of England and Wales from 9am this morning until 7pm tonight - with forecasters warning lightning strikes could damage buildings.

Oli Claydon, a spokesman for the Met Office, said: "The rainfall comes in quite an intense downpour so we could see some surface water issues on the roads, for example."

"We could see some lightning strikes in amongst that which could cause some disruption to power services. Those sorts of impacts, and delays to public transport, are possible as well."

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Some places could see 20mm to 25mm of rainfall within an hour - and in the worst-affected areas, this could rise to 40mm in just two to three hours.

Meanwhile, a warning for unseasonably windy weather is in force across coastal southern England from 4am until 6pm - accompanied by showers or longer spells of rain.

The Isles of Scilly and Cornwall were affected first, with gusts of 50mph - possibly in excess of 60mph in the most exposed spots.

They spread into other coastal areas as the morning progressed, and only eased in some areas this afternoon.

Met Office chief meteorologist Dan Suri said a deep area of low pressure is responsible for the wind and rain.

Fellow meteorologist Ellie Wilson added: "It's unseasonably windy for the start of August but thunderstorms are not unusual at this time of year.

"Thunderstorms bring with them the associated dangers of lightning and hail."

Read more: Will it stop being cold, wet and windy soon?

Looking further ahead, Met Office forecasters explained the best chance of more widely settled weather may only come in the second half of August - and even then, the risk of thundery showers will remain.

A period of prolonged or excessive heat is also unlikely, with the chance of heatwaves being lower than some recent Augusts.

On Tuesday, official figures revealed that last month was the UK's sixth-wettest July since records began in 1836 - and the wettest ever seen in Northern Ireland.

The UK had an average rainfall of 140.1mm last month - and the wettest ever was in July 1988, when the average was 150.5mm.

Some areas were more affected than others this year, with parts of the North West - including Greater Manchester and Merseyside - breaking records for their wettest-ever July.

Lancashire was the wettest of all, and recorded 234.6mm of rain last month.

Mike Kendon, of the Met Office, said: "The jet stream has been shifted to the south of the UK for much of the month, simultaneously allowing extreme heat to build in southern Europe for a time, but also allowing a succession of low pressure systems to influence the UK, with long periods of winds and rain that many more typically associate with autumn weather."