Manchester is set to finally be bathed in summer sunshine - just in time for the bank holiday weekend and school holidays.
The Met Office and the BBC's weather forecasters are predicting a period of stable, sunny weather conditions which will start here in the north west over the weekend.
And, in good news for those on their holidays at the start of June, the sunny spell looks set to hold across the whole week.
In the Met Office's most up-to-date long range forecast up to Sunday June 6, weather experts say that high pressure will be the dominant feature, which will mean "mainly fine and settled conditions across the UK, with temperatures recovering".
It says: "Temperatures are expect to rise across the country towards the end of the week with Greater Manchester seeing high teens quite widely and isolated spots in the sunniest areas could even reach 20C on Thursday and 22C on Friday.
"Saturday could be a little warmer however there is a chance the weather could become cloudier for Sunday and Monday in the north west and this may have an impact on the temperatures."
Meanwhile the BBC 's weather experts are painting an even happier picture of the week ahead, with predictions of wall-to-wall sunshine from Bank Holiday Sunday onwards into the first week of June.
They say temperatures are set to reach a high of 20C in Manchester on Sunday May 30, and then staying sunny but at a cooler 17C across the week until temperatures warm up again to 18C and 19C on Thursday June 3 and Friday June 4.
The average daytime temperature for Greater Manchester for May is 15.6C and for June is 18C - but so far in May temperatures have dropped below average and unsettled weather with rain leading to floods and even snow has featured in a dismal month.
There has been talk of a "mini heatwave" across the UK in June, although forecasters are saying its too early to say with any real certainty if that will come good.
But a period of sustained sunshine to start June will be gratefully received across the region.
