Spring-like warmth to return next week

After yesterday’s remarkable warmth for February, with many parts of England and north east Wales reaching 15-18C, this weekend will be a little bit cooler.

However, the cooler theme isn’t set to last for long, with spring-like warmth set to make a return next week.

The highest temperature yesterday was 18.7C at Coleshill in Warwickshire, which is around 10C above average for this time of year and just a degree off the February maximum temperature record of 19.7C – set at Greenwich Observatory in London on 13 February 1998.

Not all parts of the UK enjoyed the sunshine and warmth. Mumbles in south Wales was plagued by mist and drizzle throughout the day, with the temperature here rising to just 8.8C.

Wattisham in Suffolk had the lion’s share of blue sky with 8.7 hours of sunshine and very little cloud.

By the end of Friday, there’ll be a change to somewhat fresher weather as a cold front drifts southwards across the UK. This will introduce cooler air that will stay with us for the weekend and give a touch of frost by night – mainly for the northern half of the UK.

After a cooler weekend, a surge of warmer air will return during the first half of next week, lifting temperatures for some places into the mid-teens.

Given the recent drought summit highlighting the significant risk of drought across the Midlands, East Anglia and south east England during the coming months, I’ve also been taking a look at the longer term trend for rainfall.

During the next two weeks, the prospects of significant rainfall for the places that need it most are not looking good.

Any significant rainfall generally looks to be confined to northern and western parts of the UK, with southern and eastern areas seeing relatively little.

Once again, it looks as though high pressure will build across south eastern areas, which will block rain-bearing weather systems from making progress eastwards.

Don’t forget, I’ll have a full weather forecast after Channel 4 News each weekday evening and you can also contact me on Twitter – @liamdutton