UK

Sunshine to return with temperatures up to 14C next week, forecasters say

Some areas of the UK have gone over a week without any sunshine, the Met Office has said.

Warmer temperatures are on the way for many parts
Warmer temperatures are on the way for many parts (Owen Humphreys/PA)
By George Thompson and Jordan Reynolds, PA

Sunshine is set to return after much of the UK experienced persistent gloom over the last week, the Met Office said.

Temperatures could rise to 13C or 14C by the middle of the week, with sunshine in a number of areas on Monday, the forecaster added.

It comes after much of the UK has seen “anticyclonic gloom” over the past week, causing dull skies, with some areas not having seen the sun in more than a week.

Rain and snow are predicted to continue through the weekend, but milder weather is on the way.

Gloomy conditions have proven persistent in many parts of the country
Gloomy conditions have proven persistent in many parts of the country (Joe Giddens/PA)

The predicted temperatures of 14C by the middle of the week are well above February’s average, with 6C the usual monthly average in Scotland and 9C in southern England, which will be a “noticeable shift” after the last fortnight which was below average, Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said.

But it is not likely to be record-breaking, as February’s highest temperature was 21.2C recorded in 2019 in Kew Gardens, he added.

And more western areas are likely to see some rain during the week, while eastern areas are forecast to stay drier.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said he did not expect any national records to be broken, but some areas could go 10 days without any sunshine, which is “near record-breaking”.

Rain and potentially snow are expected in some places, particularly around East Anglia and Lincolnshire over the weekend, and into Scotland towards the beginning of next week.

But temperatures could be much milder by the middle of the week – up to 13C or 14C – with sunshine in many places on Monday.

Mr Morgan said: “We’ve basically got this battleground taking place over this weekend between cold air across Scandinavia and Central Europe, which is affecting eastern parts of the UK, but towards the west is a little bit milder.

“The Atlantic is trying to shift that cold air out of the way, pushing from west to east across the UK, but it’s a very slow process and it will take until the middle of the coming week for conditions to turn much milder nationwide.”

He explained the gloom “dominating” the UK over the last two weeks has been caused by a “large anticyclone”, or high-pressure system, which has been sitting over Scandinavia, bringing cold wind from the east.

“Those cold conditions have picked up a lot of moisture across the Baltic and North seas, and those moist conditions have led to a lot of clouds,” he added.

“That’s why we haven’t seen much in the way of sunshine in most of the UK recently.”