The UK is bracing itself against the forces of nature as the ‘weather bomb’ batters our shores.

Scotland and the north have witnessed hundreds of lightning strikes, wind speeds of 81mph and treacherous seas - with the bad weather spreading south.

London and the South East are in line for atrocious conditions later in the week, with the Met Office issuing a yellow warning on Friday December 12.

This means heavy rain with wind speeds reaching up to 70mph, and includes a risk of damage to trees, travel chaos and disruption to power supplies.

Seven flood alerts are in force across the UK, with a yellow warning for snow and ice also issued for the north on Friday.

A weather bomb, or an explosive cyclogenesis to meteorologists, is caused by a rapid fall in pressure in the central part of an area of low pressure.

A fairly regular occurrence, the rapid depending of pressure occurred on Monday.

The Met Office said: "In many ways a 'bomb' can be seen as simply a more powerful, more intense version of the kind of Atlantic low pressure systems that normally affect the UK."

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