Spring has sprung but a new cold front is on its way...

Spring has finally sprung with plenty of sunshine. The nights have been a bit chilly with pockets of frost in places but the afternoons lovely and warm. Usk in Monmouthshire was the warmest place in the UK on Easter Bank Holiday Monday with a high of 20°C and on Friday Porthmadog in Gwynedd exceeded 20°C.

Some coastal areas have been cooler with patches of sea fog earlier in the week. The sea temperature at the moment is still on the cold side around 8 or 9°C.

The current warm spell is on its last legs and as we look ahead to the weekend, there is a big change on the way. A cold front will move east overnight into Saturday.

This will bring some rain which may wash dust out of the sky. The reddish-brown sometimes yellow coloured dust is actually sand which has come all the way from the Sahara, blown our way by winds high in the atmosphere.

Air quality is not great at the moment with haze and low level pollution but it will improve markedly on Saturday with much cleaner air from the Atlantic and better visibility.

On Saturday there will be rain first thing in the morning, with sleet and snow on high ground, which will soon clear. The rest of the day will then be dry and bright with sunny spells - just the odd shower in places. It will feel much cooler and fresher than recently. Temperatures in the range of 10-13°C with a west to south-westerly breeze.

On Sunday the south and south-east will start dry and bright but rain in the north and west will spread south-east during the afternoon. The rain may be heavy with strong and gusty winds but should turn lighter as it moves and hopefully clear leaving a dry and bright evening with lighter winds. Top temperatures on Sunday will be around 10 to 14°C, perhaps even 15°C in Cardiff.

Next week, it looks like high pressure will bring more dry, settled weather and it will become warmer with temperatures rising into the mid to high teens again, although it may turn cooler later in the week.