The Met Office has announced that the UK is set to experience a wonderfully warm start to spring, with temperatures predicted to soar by nearly 20C. This Wednesday (March 5) is poised to be the warmest day of the year to date, with a high of 15C forecast for northern and eastern regions including Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire.
Meanwhile, a pleasant 14C is expected in other parts of the country, from Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the Midlands to County Antrim in Northern Ireland. In the South West, we could see highs of 13C.
According to the Met Office forecasters, an incoming band of low pressure from the Atlantic is responsible for the rise in temperature. Remarkably, Wednesday’s anticipated 15C will be hotter than Madrid’s expected 14C and even surpass Barcelona’s projected 13C.
“High pressure is sitting in here, and that is going to bring in a lot of fine weather over the next few days… Generally, the jet has shifted north and this has allowed this chunky area of high pressure to sit in and that is going to bring a lot of fine weather, certainly through the course of this weekend and into next week,” detailed Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin during one of the service’s YouTube forecasts, as reports the Mirror.
For the South West, the Met Office said tonight will be a fine evening will lead to a cold and largely clear night. Under the clear skies we will see a widespread frost and also some patchy mist and fog developing.
Sunday (March 2) will be another cold and frosty start with any fog quickly lifting. Thereafter, plenty of sunshine and light winds throughout the day with temperatures around average, while the outlook for Monday to Wednesday is that it will be remaining dry and settled throughout with plenty of bright or sunny spells. Night times will remain cold with the risk of some further frost and patchy fog at times.
But in a long-range forecast, for the period from Wednesday, March 5 to Friday, March 14, the Met Office has stated: “High pressure is likely to have more influence across the south of the UK, at least at first.”
The Met Office further notes an anticipated shift in conditions, advising: “However, through this period there is an increasing chance of unsettled conditions becoming more widely dominant across the UK with more in the way of rain at times for all areas, even in the south. Although, there will still be some drier interludes between these periods of unsettled conditions.”