Temperatures in the next week could hit 15C – a figure not often seen until April or May.
High pressure will draw warm air up from the south, giving us some New Year cheer after the relentlessly soggy Christmas.
We will be doing much better than usually more sunny climes. On Sunday Athens will only reach 7C and Rome 9C.
Meanwhile 34 flood warnings are still in place.
Yesterday drivers suffered massive delays after surface water shut the A35, A39 and A377 in Devon.
In Leigh Cross, near Chulmleigh, fire crews rescued a motorist and a lorry driver. They were also called to Plymtree to save a driver. Roads in Norfolk, Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire were also closed.
In Puddletown, Dorset, cars were stranded when the River Piddle burst its banks.
Around 50 homes were hit by a burst water main in Milton Keynes, Bucks.
But The Met Office promised things will improve with high pressure bringing the warmer start to 2020.
On February 25 this year temperatures in parts of the UK topped a record 20C during a freak winter heatwave.
