London saw a dramatic 21 degree shift in temperatures on Wednesday ahead of what is expected to be the hottest day of the year on Thursday.
Londoners woke up to a frosty start to the day, with lows of -3C recorded in parts of the capital - but temperatures rapidly rose to highs of 18C by the afternoon.
The dry and sunny weather is expected to continue on Thursday, the first official day of spring, where London is set to bask in highs of 21C - which would make it the hottest day of the year so far.
Thursday’s temperatures mean London is set to be hotter than holiday destinations of Ibiza, which will have highs of 19C, the Algarve, which will only have highs of 15C, and Porto which is expected to reach 16C.
If the mercury climbs into the twenties, London will see the hottest day of the year so far, besting the 19.7C recorded in Crosby, Merseyside, on March 9, according to the Met Office.
Wednesday’s higest termperature in London was 18c in St James’ Park.
Marco Petagna, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “Temperatures already just started to pick up in places, but the trend to warmer temperatures is going to continue for the next few days now.
“So Wednesday, lots of sunshine around parts of southern England and Wales.
“We’ll see some clouds developing, particularly towards the south west of England, but for most places, you have plenty of sunshine, and we're drawing up warmer air now from the South and South East.”
The rest of the UK is more likely to see highs of 12C to 15C on Wednesday, Mr Petagna said.
He added: “And then for Thursday, probably the peak of the warmth, and a lot of fine weather around.
“Again, little bits of medium upper cloud around taking turns with the sunshine, a little bit hazy in places.
“But for most places, it will be a lovely day, a dry day with a good deal of sunshine.
“It's going to be touch and go but potentially Thursday could be the warmest day of the year.”
However, the sunny weather is expected to fade from Friday, with temperatures creeping down in London towards 14C on Sunday and rainy conditions expected.
Mr Petagna said: “Temperatures are coming down from Friday onwards, and also some rain pushing in from the South and West.
“For the weekend, we're looking at sort of 15C or 16C as a high on Saturday, and about 13C by Sunday.”
