Britain to see 20C highs this weekend before temperatures drop below freezing

25 March 2022, 19:16

The blistering weather is set to continue across the weekend as Scotland issue a number of hot weather warnings before a sharp turn in temperatures.

Britain will see warmer weather than Ibiza, Barcelona and Athens this Mother's Day weekend as the "mini summer" is set to continue, according to the Met Office.

It comes as Britain has seen some of the hottest temperatures of the year so far this week. The warm weather is set to continue into the shortest weekend of the year as the clocks go forward to mark the start of British Summer Time.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said Britain could see "one of the sunniest" weekends of the year so far.

"It may well be the shortest weekend of the year, because the clocks go forward, but it will be one of the sunniest," he said.

"It's going to be blue skies almost across the board on both Saturday and Sunday thanks to a chunky area of high pressure that's just wobbling around across the UK."

Scotland have issued a number of hot weather warnings after a weekend last year that saw 6 people die as a result of high temperatures.

As clocks go forward one hour on Sunday morning, more blue-sky weather will welcome in British Summer Time.

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But the weather is set to take a sharp turn as the week goes on with colder and wetter conditions to return next week.

A cold air mass hitting Britain on Tuesday is forecast to bring rain and temperatures that could drop below freezing in some areas.

Showers will be possible for much of the UK, although most frequent in the north and east, some of which are likely to be wintry in nature. Temperatures at night in the north could sink to –3C in isolated rural areas.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said: "Although the UK has had a good deal of fine and settled March weather in recent days, a change is on the way from the middle of next week with colder air spreading down from the north and the increasing likelihood of rain for most areas.

"On the hills in the north, there’s a chance of this falling as snow, although we’ll gain more certainty on that in the coming days."

He added: "With the influence of some unsettled weather, we’ll be seeing a marked drop in temperatures for most with colder air arriving from the north.

"This will see maximum temperatures drop into single figures for many areas, and below freezing overnight."