THE Met Office has warned of mixed weather next week amid predictions of both thunderstorms and splendid 26C sunshine.
Temperatures are expected to climb high by Wednesday, bringing sunshine to many ahead of thunderstorms – which are predicted to take hold as the week progresses.
Walkers fighting off heavy rain and strong winds on Westminster Bridge in London last month[/caption]
Visitors and locals soaking up the sun in Lyme Regis, Dorset, earlier this month[/caption]
Met Office Meteorologist Craig Snell explained the weather would be “pretty changeable” over the next few days before temperatures started to climb.
While the new working week is expected to begin with dry conditions across much of the south of England, showers are predicted for the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
On Monday night, a large band of showers is expected to make its way across northern England, with some “heavy” rain earlier on in the night.
Heading into Tuesday, temperatures could rise to around 22C or 23C in the south of England, but again this would come with “a fair bit of cloud and maybe some spots of rain”.
However, heading into Wednesday, sunny conditions are expected to spread out to most areas.
With temperatures predicted to climb as high as 26C, Craig added: “Wednesday probably looks like the best day of the week if you are looking for dry and sunny weather.”
But these sunny conditions may be short lived, Craig explained, as a plum of warm air from Iberia and France is set to kick in on Wednesday evening, bringing a chance of thunderstorms.
He said: “After Wednesday, we start to draw up some very warm and humid air from Iberia and France, and that will make it quite humid across much of the UK and that humidity will potentially spark off some thunderstorms.
“From late Wednesday and especially into Thursday, we start to see the risk of some thunderstorms around and that will continue as we go through Thursday and Friday and potentially into Saturday as well.”
The Met Office added that it would begin to feel increasingly humid on Thursday, bringing about the increased risk of some heavy or even thundery showers developing.
Met Office five-day forecast
This Evening and Tonight: Daytime showers fade away to leave a mostly dry night with plenty of clear spells, though a few showery outbreaks of rain are still possible in western parts.
Winds easing, and a little milder than recent nights.
Monday: Sunshine and showers, these most frequent in the north.
Turning increasingly cloudy from the west later as persistent rain spreads across Northern Ireland.
Light winds, and temperatures around average.
Outlook for Tuesday to Thursday: Remaining changeable with a mixture of sunshine, scattered showers and longer spells of rain.
Breezy at times, and feeling cool in the north, but temperatures on the rise by midweek.
Craig continued: “By the time we get to midweek, it will feel very different out there, with quite humid night times also becoming a good deal warmer than what we have been experiencing over the last couple of nights, so probably borderline uncomfortable for some people by day.”
While temperatures could top out as high as 29C on Friday, this will be “with a fair bit of humidity”, the forecaster said.
This comes just days after the Met Office issued a severe weather warning for thunderstorms across southern England.
The predicted 40mm of rainfall on Saturday was higher than what England saw during the entire month of May.
Met Office data shows England recorded 32.8mm of rain last month – almost half the usual monthly average.
