It is no consolation for those trapped under dank grey skies about to spill torrents of rain, but London and the south-east of England are expecting the hottest days of the year so far, with temperatures predicted to hit 25C (77F) on Wednesday, hotter than parts of Italy and Greece.
A spokeswoman for the Met Office described it as way above the April average of 12.4C, but still far short of the record for the month, set in 1949 when a temperature of 29.4C was recorded in Camden Square in London.
The forecast is causing the Met Office some headaches, as the contrasts across Britain are extreme: a yellow warning of severe weather is in place for parts of Scotland, where heavy rain falling on dry ground for up to 48 hours could lead to problems with surface water and some flooding. Snow fell on Sunday in parts of the Pennines.
While the south-east basks in sunshine, with parks and green spaces filling up with office workers on suddenly extended lunch breaks, sea mist has kept the weather cooler near the coast, and temperatures were described as “struggling” under heavy cloud in much of Wales, Northern Ireland and the north of England.
There is even a frost forecast for some inland regions of England under very clear skies on Tuesday night, but the outlook towards the end of the week is for a weak cold front gradually moving south, halving temperatures in many places.
Jellyfish have already been spotted in waters off the south-west coast.
Despite excited speculation about a four month heatwave and a barbecue spring and summer, and bookmakers offering good odds that some day this year the temperature will top 37.8C - 100F – the Met Office spokeswoman stressed that a hot April day is no guarantee of a flaming June.
“The weather we get in April doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about the kind of summer we can expect. We’re still in the midst of spring, so it’s far too early to say what the months of June, July and August may hold.
“Our current three-month outlook does show that above average temperatures are more likely than below average temperatures for the April-June period. The outlook is essentially the scientific equivalent of factoring the odds on a horse race and, just like a horse race, the favourite doesn’t always win.”
