Householders and businesses are counting the cost of the wave of freak weather that followed yesterday's record-breaking temperatures.
And forecasters have warned there is more to come.
More than 50,000 people in the north-east of England had their power cut following storms, a nursery owner in North Yorkshire watched as up to 5,000 greenhouse panes were smashed by giant hailstones and a house in County Durham lost its roof to a blaze, apparently following a lightning strike.
The storms that swept over the north of England and Scotland yesterday evening provided spectacular light shows just hours after many places recorded their hottest July day ever.
Now the Met Office has issued a new weather warning, predicting further thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain tomorrow evening.
Jonny Bradbrook, of Ravensworth Nurseries, Richmond, North Yorkshire, said his business was a scene of devastation after huge hailstones smashed thousands of planes of glass in his greenhouses.
Mr Bradbrook said the storm arrived at around 9pm yesterday and only lasted for 20 minutes, but left thousands of pounds of damage.
He said: "I've never known anything like it. They were as big as golf balls. I think there might be 5,000 panes gone but I'll know for sure later."
Mr Bradbrook said many of the panes were left with "bullet holes" and the broken glass has also wrecked some of his stock.
He said: "We've had floods before but nothing like this. There was no rain, just hail and thunder."
Giant hailstones are also reported to have caused damage to cars in parts of the Yorkshire Dales, near Leyburn, and in the Bishop Auckland and West Auckland areas of County Durham.
Also in the Durham area, a house fire which left a property in Ferryhill without a roof has been blamed on a lightning strike. No one was hurt in the blaze.
The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro) even issued a tornado warning yesterday for most of the Midlands, northern England and Scotland.
In a statement, Torro said: "Shear is sufficient for organised severe thunderstorms including supercells, capable of large hail, damaging winds, and perhaps isolated tornadoes."
The thunderstorm which hit the north-east of England left 57,500 homes without electricity in parts of North Yorkshire, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, Teesside and Northumberland.
Northern Powergrid said this morning it was still working to restore power to 1,700 customers.
A spokeswoman said: "Our teams have worked throughout the night restoring power to the vast majority (97%) of customers after lightning storms damaged our power network yesterday afternoon and again in the early hours of this morning.
"We're sorry for the inconvenience caused and thank our customers for their patience while we carry out the necessary repairs. We'd like to reassure them that our engineers are working hard to restore the remaining 1,700 customers still affected as a result of the storm back on supply today."
Scores of motorists pulled over to watch last night as another storm moved up The Pennines.
In Sheffield, weather-watchers drove out of the city to witness the huge cloud which silently flashed with almost continuous lightning but with no thunder and no rain.
In the village of Worrall, Rick Taylor, said: "I've not seen anything like this before, it's amazing. It's exactly like that scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the spaceship is approaching."
The light show gradually worked its way north, with people using social media to chart its progress through Huddersfield and then on to Leeds, Bradford and the Yorkshire Dales.
Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland said on Twitter: "What an amazing spectacle of nature. I hope it's not like Day of the Triffids."
Felicity Grace posted: "The entire population of Bradford aged 18 and below will be falling asleep in school tomorrow because of this lightning."
Forecasters said there would be some respite today from the soaring temperatures yesterday, which reached a maximum recorded temperature of 36.7C (98F) and caused roads to melt and rail service cancellations.
Parts of south-east England could still see the mercury rise to around 26C (79F) today and the heatwave looks set to continue in to the weekend.
But the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain for tomorrow night as more storms are predicted.
It said: "Isolated heavy, and possibly severe, thunderstorms are expected to develop on Friday evening across parts of England and Wales. These are likely to become more frequent later and spread northwards towards southern Scotland.
"Some torrential downpours are possible, leading to localised surface water flooding, with large hail and frequent lightning also possible hazards.
"The public should be aware that there is a chance of some very localised significant disruption."
MeteoGroup's Nick Prebble said: "Temperatures will be suppressed today, about 10C lower than yesterday with highs of 25C or 26C. It will be noticeably cooler but still warm.
"Friday will likely stay nice and dry across most places and temperatures will be a little warmer, around 27C or 28C, although there will be some unsettled weather Friday night with more thunderstorms."
He added: "Looking into the weekend, it could top 30C again on Saturday in the South East and London and temperatures will be above average elsewhere too, going in to Sunday."
Moderate levels of air pollution are expected to remain in the southern and eastern areas of England throughout today and Friday before subsiding over the weekend, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Earlier it had warned those vulnerable to the effects of pollution to be cautious as the high temperatures caused pollution levels to spike.
Urgent health warnings were issued in response to the heatwave yesterday and paramedics dealt with a surge in calls amid fears the hot weather could result in deaths.
The London Ambulance Service said it had seen call-outs to people fainting increase by more than a third (35%) compared with the same day last week, and a 28% hike in overall calls during the period.
The Met Office said temperatures hit the record high in Heathrow yesterday afternoon - breaking the previous record of 36.5C (98F) set on July 19 2006 in Wisley, Surrey.