Getting warmer this week

After the chilly weather we have had recently across the United Kingdom, temperatures are about to rise.

Warmer air heading in from the south-east will bring temperatures up close to or even above average for a time this week.

Western Scotland is going to be the warmest with highs of 20C on Thursday.

It will not be completely dry however, with showers or longer spells of rain at times for many parts.

Over the last week temperatures have been below the seasonal average with some areas such as North Sea coasts not getting above 10C.

While the perception has perhaps been that it has felt colder for longer than a week, in reality temperatures now over the whole of April are around average.

It has however been once again very wet which hasn't helped the feel of the weather.

Over the weekend just gone, some parts of central and eastern England had half a month's rain, contributing to now an overall wetter than average month.

Parts of northern England, central and eastern Scotland have had more than twice the average rainfall for April.

On Tuesday we will get a plume of warm air moving in from the south-east bringing temperatures of 17 to 19C in northern and eastern parts of England.

This is about three to five degrees above the average for the end of April.

This warmer weather will then spread further north-west so that by Thursday and Friday, the highest temperatures will be found in western Scotland with an expected high of 20C, or about nine degrees above average.

While not as warm across the rest of the UK, it will be an improvement on conditions experienced last week.

While temperatures rise this week, it does not of course mean it is going to be completely dry.

Low pressure will be close to the UK which means the weather will be quite changeable with showers or longer spells of rain.

The wettest weather is most likely across western areas of the UK at first before we get some heavier rain spreading into some eastern areas later in the week.

With an easterly wind there may also be more persistent cloud and some drizzle along North Sea coastal areas which will also make it feel quite a bit chillier.

Temperatures are likely to remain at around - or perhaps slightly above - average over the bank holiday weekend.

However, there does remain some uncertainty in the type of weather we might get.

While there is likely to be some mixed weather with rain or showers, there will also be a bit of sunshine as well.

It is worth bearing in mind that the Sun is just as strong now as it is in late August so after the long darker winter, our skin has not got used to higher UV levels and we are more prone to sunburn.

There is, however, some uncertainty about the amount of rain expected with some weather computer models suggesting a rather wet period on Sunday.

With this uncertainty in the forecasts the app or website may change and flip-flop a bit in the coming days, and so it's worth staying tuned to a TV or radio forecast where our presenters will be able to give a better idea on the expected conditions.