Thunderstorms are to sweep across Scotland this weekend after the intense heat.

Areas including Orkney, Caithness, Moray and Ayrshire are expected to be hit by the most severe weather.

On Sunday, up to 50mm of rain may fall in the hills of Argyll, Stirlingshire, Perthshire and the south west.

STV weather presenter, Sean Batty, said: "After some very intense heat moving north across the UK in the last few days, weather fronts will begin to push in from the Atlantic on Friday night and throughout the weekend.

"Due to the warm and humid conditions ahead of these fronts, they're likely to be very active and lead to torrential downpours of rain at times."

Several bands of thundery rain will move north across Scotland on Friday night and Saturday, posing a risk of surface flooding in some areas.

"The risk of flooding is in part down to the very dry conditions recently which have hardened the ground, and means it will take longer for the rain to soak in," Sean added.

"There will be some cumulonimbus thunder clouds embedded in these fronts, and therefore a risk of power cuts due to lightning."

Sean says this will be welcome news for many gardeners and farmers, as parts of the country are sitting with a large rainfall deficit for this year so far.

He continued: "The north of the country has the biggest deficit, with some areas of the Highlands having only 55% of the average rainfall they would normally expect for the year by now.

"This is likely to just be a short blip in the otherwise settled season, with most models pointing towards higher pressure, along with drier and warmer conditions returning for much of August."