Bright and mild weekend for most

The past week has seen a big area of high pressure sitting across the UK, blocking weather fronts from moving in and giving many of us a dry week – welcome news following the wettest winter on record.

Not only has it been dry, there’s been a good deal of sunshine each day, giving us our warmest days of the year so far. Temperatures each day have reached the upper teens, with Gravesend in Kent reaching 20.5C last Sunday.

Admittedly, there has been some fog in the mornings and cloud amounts have varied day by day, but all in all, there’s been a definite sense of spring in the air. This is in stark contrast to spring last year, which was the coldest in 50 years.

The reason for high pressure building over the UK is that the jet stream has moved northwards, steering low pressure, wind and rain towards Iceland and Scandinavia instead.

Bright and mild weekend

Although there’ll be subtle changes taking place this weekend, for most of us the weather is going to be bright and pleasantly warm.

High pressure will remain in control of our weather, but it will drift a little further south westwards, allowing weather fronts to topple around its northern side.

This will introduce more cloud for northern areas at times, with a brisk wind and some rain, but many southern areas will stay dry with sunshine.

On Saturday, it looks like the best of the sunshine will be across southern and eastern parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Elsewhere, there’ll tend to be more cloud and some light rain.

On Sunday, the best of the blue skies will tend to be for the eastern half of England, where temperatures could reach 16-19C. Elsewhere, with more cloud, temperatures will be in the range of 10-15C.

Unsettled next week

Beyond the weekend, the jet stream is going to gradually move southwards, to eventually sit just south of the UK.

This means that the weather will progressively turn more unsettled, with low pressure, wind and rain making a return.

In addition, it’ll turn colder from time to time, with some snow likely over the hills and mountains in the north.

So enjoy the warmth and sunshine while it’s here, as there is going to be a noticeable difference in how the weather feels next week.