The Met Office has forecast 'great conditions' for the last week of spring, but poured scorn on reports claiming there could be intense heat. The area of high pressure which has brought fine conditions across the UK over the last few days is forecast to extend out toward the end of the month.
Media speculation has concentrated on a plume of intense heat coming to the UK from southern Europe or even North Africa, but the Met Office says this won't be the case. With high pressure conditions settling in for the coming week, the warmth we will experience will be home grown as clear skies will allow more of the May sunshine to reach ground level, gradually raising temperatures to expected highs of 25°C for a day or two later this week.
Neil Armstong, Met Office Chief Forecaster, said: “If you have heard media hyperbole that a heatwave driven by an African plume will bring intense heat to the UK in the next few days you are going to be disappointed – this isn’t true. However, if you are looking forward to a spell of largely fine, sunny and warm conditions across the majority of the UK, then you are going to be in luck.”
High pressure will continue to dominate the UK weather through this week and the current signal is for this to continue through next week too. This means lots of settled weather for many, with dry sunny conditions. There will be spells of cloud and light rain at times in the north west as weak fronts move in but they will quickly dissolve.
Temperatures will gradually rise through the week, with an expected high of 24°C, possibly 25°C, by Thursday. These temperature highs are expected to be in parts of East Wales, West Midlands and South West England. An onshore breeze will keep temperatures slightly lower in the south east of England, where we usually see the highest temperatures.
Thursday looks set to be the hottest day of the year so far with the warm, sunny weather expected to continue over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Temperatures could be as high as 25C on Thursday in the east of Wales and the West Midlands area of England, topping this year’s previous high of 23C, the Met Office said.
An onshore breeze will keep temperatures in the South East cooler, but dry, bright weather is still expected across the area and most of the country for the rest of the week.
Temperatures of around 18C are expected in the daytime in much of Scotland, with even the Shetland islands expected to stay relatively warm at around 11 or 12C, although overnight temperatures could still be in single figures on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The warm, sunny weather is expected to continue throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. A Met Office spokesperson said that high pressure is likely to bring about settled and warm conditions through to Monday.
Temperatures hit their highest for the year so far on Sunday, with parts of north Wales seeing highs of 23C and most of England and Wales staying above 20C.
