When will there be a storm in Scotland? Glasgow, Edinburgh, Highlands
Check the storm for your town →
Recently added — storms
- Storms in Europe — radar, alerts and what to do
- Storms in the Italian Alps — why they arrive so suddenly
- Hail during Alpine storms — how often it falls and why it is dangerous
- Storm alerts in Croatia — will they reach a tourist, and where to shelter
- Sudden storms and downpours in France — the regions hit most often
Current storm situation in Scotland
The map below shows near-real-time precipitation and lightning radar.
Storm radar — Scotland
By default you see the precipitation radar together with real-time lightning strikes — one combined Windy layer. Switch to wind or to the warnings layer to see whether an official warning is in effect for this region.
To check exactly what time a storm cell will reach Glasgow, Edinburgh or a Highlands location, use this site's storm tool.
Why Scottish storms are different from England's
Scotland's weather is dominated far more by Atlantic frontal systems — bands of wind and rain moving through — than by the classic "heat builds up, then breaks into a thunderstorm" pattern common further south. Genuine thunderstorms with lightning are less frequent, particularly on the west coast around Glasgow, where the Gulf Stream keeps things milder but also generally more stable.
The Highlands add their own complication: mountainous terrain can trigger localised convective storms on warm summer afternoons that wouldn't otherwise form over flatter ground, and these can be surprisingly intense for their size, catching hillwalkers off guard on Munros far from any shelter. Edinburgh and the east coast, more exposed to occasional warm air pushing up from the near continent than the sheltered west, see slightly more thunderstorm activity in a warm summer than Glasgow does.
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What a thunderstorm is and how to read the signal strength
What a thunderstorm is and how to read its strength
A thunderstorm forms when warm, moist air near the ground rises quickly and meets much colder air higher up. That motion (convection) builds a storm cloud (cumulonimbus) — sometimes over ten kilometres tall. Inside it, water droplets and ice crystals collide and build up an electrical charge, which eventually discharges as lightning.
A storm needs three things at once: moisture in the lower atmosphere, instability (a large temperature difference between the ground and higher up), and some trigger for the air to start rising — a weather front, ground heated hard on a hot day, or mountains forcing air upward.
How to read the storm-signal strength
Weather models (like ICON-D2, used on this site) do not "see" lightning directly — they calculate a Lightning Potential Index (LPI) from the physics of the cloud: how much ice and supercooled water is rising, how strong the updraft is. Rainfall and convective energy (CAPE) are added on top — together they give one index from 0–100%.
- 0–20% — calm, no real storm signal.
- 20–30% — weak signal, a passing shower is possible, a storm is unlikely.
- 30–45% — a real chance of a storm, worth tracking as it develops.
- 45%+ — a strong signal, a storm with a high chance of lightning.
This is a model forecast, not a radar reading — it shows what the model expects a few hours ahead, not what is happening right now. For the current situation, always check radar too (e.g. in this site's storm tool) and official warnings.
Wind and weather — Europe
Wind direction and speed decide which way a fire runs. Switch the layer to temperature or humidity to judge the risk.
Strong wind, temperatures above 35 °C and humidity below 30% together are the conditions in which fire spreads fastest.
Met Office warnings for Scotland
Weather warnings — Scotland
This site shows a model forecast and does not replace official warnings. If Met Office has issued a warning for your region, that is what counts — not our forecast.
Check warnings: Met Office ↗ · MeteoAlarm — warnings for all of Europe ↗
Hillwalkers on Munros or other exposed Highland routes should check the storm forecast before setting out, not just the general weather forecast — a localised convective storm can develop over a summit with little warning on an otherwise calm-looking day.
See also
See also: South East England · the Midlands · the UK storm alert
All storm pages
- Storms in Europe — radar, alerts and what to do
- Storms in the Italian Alps — why they arrive so suddenly
- Hail during Alpine storms — how often it falls and why it is dangerous
- Storm alerts in Croatia — will they reach a tourist, and where to shelter
- Sudden storms and downpours in France — the regions hit most often
- Storms in Croatia and local flooding — Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar
- Storms in France: Paris, Marseille, Nice and lightning protection
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- When will storms hit the USA — checking the hour for your town
- When will the storm end in Australia — duration and the all-clear
- When will the storm end in the USA — duration and the all-clear
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- When will there be a storm in South East England? London, Kent, Essex
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- Storm Alert: UK — when and where a thunderstorm is coming
- Storm Alert: Poland — when and where a thunderstorm is coming
- Storm Alert: Germany — when and where a thunderstorm is coming
- Storm Alert: France — mistral, Cévennes episodes and Météo-France