Stormy weather spotted today in Oxfordshire (Picture: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock)

Yellow thunderstorm warnings have been issued for vast swathes of the UK over the next three days.

The weather alert is already in place for parts of Northern Ireland today before covering most of England on Friday and Saturday.

The Met Office has warned there could be a ‘danger to life’, with the weather chaos threatening to bring sudden flooding, power cuts and train cancellations.

The warning is in place from 11am today until 8pm for the western part of Northern Ireland, including Londonderry/ Derry, Coleraine and Enniskillen.

The weather warning first affects Northern Ireland

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The 21-hour weather warning covers most of England for Friday and Saturday

The yellow warning is then in place for 21nhours across most of northern, central and southern England.

It comes into force at 9.00pm on Friday and lasts until 6pm on Saturday.

A second yellow thunderstorm warning is also in place form midday to 8pm tomorrow for the North East of England including Leeds, York, Middlesborough, Hull and Scarborough.

The Met Office say the millions of Brits in affected areas should expect ‘spray and sudden flooding’ which could disrupt road travel.

They add: ‘Flooding of homes and businesses could happen quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.

‘Fast flowing or deep floodwater is possible, causing a danger to life.’

So far, South East Water and Yorkshire Water hosepipe bans are in effect, while Thames Water and Southern Water’s bans will begin next week.