The Met Office says the weather will be turning much milder but more unsettled through the rest of the week, with the chance of heavy rain and strong winds at times. Southerly winds across western Europe will transport a warm and humid airmass from the western Mediterranean and northwest Africa across the UK over the next couple of days.

As this clears on Thursday, Atlantic frontal systems will bring further spells of wet and windy weather into the west at times later in the week. Met Office Chief Meteorologist, Matthew Lehnert, said: “Warm air arriving from the south will allow temperatures to rise above average despite it often being cloudy. On Wednesday, parts of southeast England could see 20 or 21C, with the mid to high teens expected across many parts of the UK.

“However, this warm and humid airmass will bring with it a risk of heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms. Yellow National Severe Weather Warnings for rain have been issued for southeast Northern Ireland, Wales and western parts of England on Tuesday night and Wednesday. A few places within these warning areas may see as much as 50-80 mm of rain fall in 6 hours.”

The Met Office says that as we go through the rest of the week, we will see further bands of rain or showers moving across the country at times, and although temperatures will trend down a little it will generally remain mild for the time of year.

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Dan Holley, said; “A low pressure system could bring strong winds to the north and west on Friday. This combined with high spring tides may result in some coastal impacts, potentially continuing into the weekend on some coasts.

“As we head into the weekend the weather will remain unsettled with further rain at times, and by Sunday there is a chance that a particularly deep area of low pressure arriving from the Atlantic could bring more widespread strong winds, especially in northern and western areas, with potential for some disruption in places. This low pressure system is not expected to develop until Friday near the coast of Canada, so at this stage there is still a lot of uncertainty about the strength and track of this system as it interacts with the jet stream over the weekend. We’ll keep reviewing the need for any warnings over the coming days, so it’s important to stay up to date with the latest forecast.”