UK weather forecast: Heavy rain and thunderstorms to batter Britain before temperatures soar

Wet and windy weather to give way to sunshine and warmth by weekend

Britain is set to be battered by heavy rain and potential thunderstorms which could cause localised flooding.

After the weekend saw one of the coldest starts to an early May bank holiday, it will turn wet and windy throughout most of the week.

Temperatures will linger around the mid-teens on Wednesday but the mercury is expected to gradually creep up to the high teens to low 20s by Sunday.

There are no weather or flood warnings in place, however the Environment Agency has warned there could be a risk of localised flooding on Wednesday.

Met Office meteorologist Sophie Yeomans told The Independent: “There’s quite a lot of rain across the UK today [Wednesday], persistent in the northern half of the UK with a mix of sunshine and heavy showers for the south.

“There are no warnings out at the moment because it’s been fairly dry recently so the ground should soak it all up and take it in its stride.

“Through the rest of the week we will see a mixture of sunshine and showers and a few into Saturday as well but over the weekend it looks to become drier and warmer, especially by Sunday.

“It will be quite warm and sunny when you’ve got the sunny spells and it will be cooler when the showers go through.”

Ms Yeomans said there could be “some very localised flooding” which could impact certain roads.

She added that the Met Office would be keeping an eye on the weather and would issue warnings if necessary.

The Environment Agency warned there could be a risk of local flooding between Tuesday and Saturday.

It said in a statement on its website: “Local flooding is possible from surface water on Wednesday across central and southern parts of England and southern Wales.

“Local flooding is also possible from rivers in parts of the north-east of England on Wednesday.

“This is due to heavy rain and showers. Land, roads and some properties may flood and there may be travel disruption.”

It comes after all four UK nations recorded their warmest Easter Monday on record this year.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also enjoyed their warmest Easter Sunday on record.