Britain has officially recorded its hottest day of the year so far after the mercury soared past 20C in parts of the country this afternoon.
Bank holiday sunseekers were treated to pleasant temperatures and clear skies across much of the UK today, with England, Wales and Northern Ireland enjoying their warmest day of 2023.
But some northern parts were not so lucky, as things only reached 14C in Scotland.
The Met Office tweeted: "England, Wales and Northern Ireland have all seen their warmest day of the year so far today.
"By contrast, Scotland which currently holds the record for the warmest day of the year so far across the UK, only managed to see a high of 12.9C today."
The tweet said temperatures reached 20.2C in Pershore, Worcestershire, 20.0C in Castlederg, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, and 19.2C in Llysdinam, in Powys, Wales.
Aultbea, in the north west Highlands of Scotland, recorded 12.9C.
Explaining the contrast in weather conditions, senior operations meteorologist Marco Petagna said: “We are stuck between an area of high pressure to the north east of the UK and lower pressure to the west.
“Warm air from the Atlantic has brought a lot of moisture too which will help trigger showers.
“We are looking at potentially heavy and thundery showers on Saturday in Northern Ireland, north west England and Wales which will tend to ease going into the evening.
“In those areas we could see some of the warmest sunshine away from the showers with temperatures in the mid to high teens.
“It’s certainly not a heat wave, but it’s a spell of some warmer weather.”
Sunday could bring with it more showers towards the west but the south east is expected to remain dry.
Through onto bank holiday Monday, drier conditions will develop from the west with showers concentrating across eastern areas.
Although temperatures have risen in most areas, Scotland has seen a cooler day on Saturday before being expected to return closer to average temperatures on Sunday and Monday.
High pressure through the early part of next week is likely to keep the number of showers down.
Early predictions for the Coronation weekend suggest another lovely weekend marked with showers with temperatures reaching similar highs of around 20C.
