Spring warmth set to return with 26C forecast next week

While recent days have felt like winter for some, things will gradually get warmer, especially later in the week ahead.

After returning to around average of the mid to high teens, temperatures will jump into the low twenties for much of the United Kingdom from mid-week.

For parts of south-east England, it could be as warm as 26C by the end of the week, though there is still some uncertainty this far away.

There will be sunshine at times but showers or longer spells of rain will feature in the week ahead.

With northerly winds across the UK, the temperature has been around 4-7C below average this week.

Showers, thunderstorms and hail have also featured widely with some questioning what has happened to spring.

Thunderstorms and hail are actually quite common features of the weather this time of year as the extra daylight and warmth helps grow bigger showers that bring hail.

With the wind switching to more of a westerly direction over the weekend, it will start to feel warmer although the weather will continue to be quite mixed.

After a bright start on Saturday, cloud increases from the west with some rain in Northern Ireland and western areas of England and Wales.

By Sunday, temperatures will have risen to around 12-16C. This will be close to the average for the time of year. With lighter winds it should actually start to feel warmer than it has done this week.

Showers will be mostly confined to northern and western areas of the UK with sunny spells elsewhere.

Into next week the temperature will continue to rise very gradually as the wind moves round to a south-westerly.

By Tuesday and Wednesday it will have reached at or just above average with 16-20C for most parts of the UK.

While there'll be some sunny spells, the weather will remain quite mixed with showers or longer spells or rain, especially the further north and west you are.

Later in the week the temperature will start to rise even further with 20-26C looking likely across most areas.

The highest temperatures will be most likely around south-east England.

It's possible they may exceed the highest temperatures we've seen so far this year:

There should also be quite a bit of dry and mostly sunny weather for many parts as an area of high pressure builds in from the south.

There are signs the settled and warmer weather will persist into the bank holiday weekend.

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