Parts of the UK are predicted to be hotter than many places in the Mediterranean in the days running up to the Easter weekend.
Temperatures, mainly in the southeast of England, are predicted to climb as high as 20C next week.
The recent cold snap – that followed a spell of warmer weather in late March – will dissipate to allow Brits to enjoy some balmy bank holidays.
Met Office weather meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “Warmer weather is on the way for the start of the week, and we could even see 20C in the southeast.
“The general trend is for it to turn warmer with higher pressure increasingly likely through the week and into the following week.
“There is still the chance of some rain mainly in the west.”
Further north, people in Scotland and the north-west of England are likely to see rain – Mr McGivern said.
He said: “Into Monday, low pressure becomes more and more erratic, but it looks likely that northern and western parts of the UK that bear the brunt of any wetter weather.
“Low pressure is slowly progressing from the west bringing some rain in on Sunday, most likely in north-west of the UK, western Scotland, western England and north Wales.
“Cold air remains in the far north with the potential for snow if that rain mixes with cold air as it approaches from the west.”
From Good Friday until 24 April, the rain is forecast to ease as it moves eastwards with some showers possible in the Midlands – according to the Met Office’s longer-term predictions.
The meteorologists add: “For the rest of the period, a northwest-southeast split is likely, with the northwest remaining more changeable with strong winds and rain at times.
“Some rain may occasionally spread into parts of the southeast at first, but it is likely to turn dry and become generally much more settled, though perhaps rather cloudy, in the south, with lighter winds through to the end of this period.
“Temperatures are expected to be above average, and warm at times for the south.”
