UK weather latest: Britain to bask in warmest day of the year as temperatures soar

Milder weather to continue as forecasters predict double-digit temperatures over weekend 

Tom Embury-Dennis
Thursday 05 April 2018 14:14 BST
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UK weather: The latest Met Office forecast

Britain is set to experience the warmest day of the year so far on Friday, when temperatures may reach the heady heights of 17C in the south.

The Met Office said today and Friday would be clear and sunny for most parts of the country, with southeast England seeing particularly warm weather.

However, the weekend is set to see cooler temperatures and more rain, especially in central and northeastern parts of England.

Forecaster Grahame Madge said there was a "possibility" of 17C on Friday in west London - the same as Ibiza - but that the "very nice" weather across the south-east would die away as the weekend approaches.

The welcome spell of sunny weather follows a March which saw torrential rain and snow cause widespread travel disruption and subsequent flooding.

Of Thursday and Friday, Mr Madge said: "After a cold start, any residual cold in the east and South East will quite rapidly move away.

"Most places across the UK will be clear. It will be bright and sunny and not much in the way of wind.

"Today we are looking at highs of, pretty much everywhere in England, getting into double figures, with parts of the South East possibly 13C.

"Somewhere like Manchester will still be in double figures and only really in the north of England will we struggle to see double-figure temperatures today."

He added Edinburgh, in Scotland, could see up to 8C or 9C.

Mr Madge said an area of low pressure threatened to bring some rain to western parts of the UK, including Northern Ireland and Wales, on Friday.

He said: "There's a front associated with that low pressure that's going to be trying to make progress across the UK in western areas.

"As far as England is concerned it's not going to make much progress.

"Tomorrow temperatures, pretty much everywhere apart from really north of Scotland, look like they can get into double figures."

Mr Madge said average temperatures for early April in the South East, where he suggested the mercury could reach up to 17C, were around 12C to 13C.

"So the fact that this is early April, it will feel nice," he said.

The warmer weather might not last long though, with the weekend looking "certainly unsettled".

The brief warmth will be welcome respite from what Mr Madge called a "very wet" March.

"Devon had its fourth wettest March since 1910, although that was not necessarily replicated everywhere," he said.

"Pretty much everywhere apart from places like the North West and west of Scotland saw pretty much above average rainfall.

"Some areas, particularly Devon, the Severn Vales and parts of the North East, saw levels approaching double the amount expected for March.

"Not record-breaking necessarily but a particularly wet month."

Additional reporting by PA

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