A woman next to a cherry blossom tree in St James's Park
(Picture: PA)Londoners will enjoy a scorching Easter weekend as temperatures soar to 21C in the capital this week.
Sunseekers will bask in hotter than average weather as a blast of hot “Saharan” air drifts in from the south over the bank holiday weekend.
Dry and sunny weather is expected across the UK, with the south seeing the best of it.
Highs of 21C will hit the capital on Thursday. The sizzling heat is expected to continue into Good Friday and the rest of the weekend.
Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said: “This week is going to be much warmer than last week, with temperatures fairly widely above average.
“Temperatures will rise through the week. Today we’re seeing highs of 18C and by Thursday we should see highs of 21C in south-eastern areas of the country.
“The London region is where we’re likely to see those higher temperatures, through Thursday and Friday. On the weekend temperatures will remain in the high teens or low 20s in places.
“It will be mixed and not everywhere will see the warmest temperatures. We should expect dry and bright weather.”
She added: “There’s a strong steam of hot air originating from northern Africa – there is warm air being pulled up from the south so it could feel quite muggy for some.”
Before the warm weather arrives, the forecaster warned there could be a few rainshowers and cloudy weather on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Northern and eastern parts of England will experience the worst of the rain.
