Easter is late this year with the dates falling in the middle of April, which means there is some good news in the forecast if you are making plans. Good Friday this year is on April 15, and the majority of schools in Wales will be breaking up for the two-week holiday at the end of this week.
While temperatures are currently mild, a cold snap is being forecast for later this week, but the long range forecasts are showing the hope that "more settled" weather will return in time for the Easter weekend.
The BBC outlook for the UK says that early April will see "frequent Atlantic lows" driving the weather, but it is set to improve.
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The forecast says: "During early April we should see a fairly changeable period of weather with more frequent Atlantic lows driving the weather. Temperatures will be very changeable across the first week of the forecast.
"Further ahead we expect an unsettled period towards mid-April ahead of a potentially more settled pattern by the Easter holiday weekend. For the latter half of the forecast, the signs point to a fairly typical April with no extremes of weather or temperatures."
The more detailed UK forecast for Monday, April 11, to Easter Sunday (April 17) says that low pressure is expected to be "the dominant feature across the north Atlantic while high pressure will frequently be centred across the Azores".
That means that the pattern will be changeable, but high pressure could start to build later in the week closer to the Easter weekend.
It says: "Forecasting the timing of events this week is difficult, but we can give an indication."
If you are making plans the first week of the Easter school holidays the forecast is:
- Monday - looks to be a fairly unsettled but mild day with outbreaks of rain possible across all regions but especially over the western side of the country. It will also be a breezy day.
- Tuesday - a low move directly across the country bringing periods of enhanced rain and winds.
- Wednesday - one of the more settled days of the week, as the rain clears the country through the morning and winds ease. However, rain could move over western parts of the country during the later part of the day.
- Thursday - could see periods of scattered showers across all areas.
- Good Friday - showers may ease to give a relatively settled day across the country. Temperatures over the working week are forecast to be near seasonal to slightly mild.
- Saturday - the BBC says there is "low confidence" by the weekend but the signs point to a continuation of the settled weather
- Easter Sunday - may see some light rain across all regions. Temperatures over the weekend are forecast to be around 1C above average.
The Met Office long range forecast for the UK next week, up to Easter Monday on April 18, says that it will remain cold in most places, with some wintry showers over this weekend.
It warns of overnight frosts in places, for next week it then goes on to say: "It will be unsettled across central and southern areas with spells of rain and showers throughout, some locally wintry particularly on higher ground. Likely drier further north with some isolated wintry showers, becoming more unsettled here towards the end of the period.
"Windy at times in southern and western regions. Likely to be cold at first with temperatures soon returning to normal in the south and more widely later.."
The forecast for the rest of April says that it will remain "unsettled" but temperatures are expected to be above average across the UK.
It adds: "Towards late April, there are tentative signs of more settled conditions redeveloping, although rain and showers remain possible. Temperatures are most likely to be above average, especially in the south, and closer to average across the north."
