Brits are set to be battered by bad weather just days after a balmy, warm weekend – with snow and thunderstorms on the way.
It comes as the country has enjoyed an “African plume” which came with unseasonably high temperatures on the back of weeks of wet and windy conditions. While temperatures are expected to drop by Sunday, April 14, a second spell of warmer weather could be on the way, due to maps showing a high-pressure system moving in by the following weekend.
Looking to Saturday, April 20, Met Office forecaster Alex Burkill said: “There is a fairly good chance that we could see high pressure dominating across the whole of the country and that means it is going to turn markedly drier than it has been.
“Not necessarily sunny, there could be quite a bit of cloud around but it does look like we are going to see a more prolonged dry spell than we have seen through many recent weeks and months, to be honest.”
And weather maps from WXCharts show dark red across the UK indicating hot weather. Birmingham, Manchester, London and Plymouth are among the areas that could hit 20C. Temperatures will be a lot cooler at the start of next week and there could still be plenty of showers on Tuesday before the high-pressure system starts to take hold.
“We are going to see some colder air plunging its way in as we go into the beginning of next week so things are going to turn markedly cooler,” continued Mr Burkill.
“What happens thereafter, well the low-pressure system that is affecting us through the latter part of the weekend and the start of next week, by the time we get to Tuesday, that is going to have shifted away towards Scandinavia and then we see high pressure building from the west.”
“So Tuesday is something of a transition day in the sense that there will still be some showery rain around and we will end up with a bit of a northerly flow so quite a bit of a cold direction, so quite a chilly day on Tuesday with some showery rain around. But if we skip forward a couple of days and by Thursday we are likely to have high pressure pushing its way in, becoming a bit more dominant across the western parts of the UK, perhaps still some rain around towards the north, but turning drier.”
And the Met Office forecast from April 16 to 25 reads: “Winds from the north or northwest are expected to affect the UK at the start of this period. This brings showers or some longer spells of rain, these most frequent across the north and northwest. Some heavy rain is possible at times with a risk of snow over high ground.
“However, further south conditions will be drier and brighter. Temperatures will mostly be below normal. Through the rest of this period a build of pressure will probably occur meaning more in the way of dry weather, especially in the south and east. Some rain is still possible at times, mainly in the northwest. Temperatures will probably return to closer to normal, perhaps slightly above in places.”
Several counties could face gloomy weather including Cheshire, the Highlands and Cumbria.