It could reach 14C in Wales as temperatures go from freezing to above average
There has been freezing rain and snow in parts of the UK this weekend, but everyone will be glad to know a change is on the way. Temperatures are expected to pick up this week going from below average to above average for the time of year.
The Met Office says that temperatures could rise to 13°C or 14°C by the middle of the week, with sunshine in a number of areas on Monday. BBC weather presenter Simon King said that it could even feel "spring like" next weekend.
It comes after much of the UK has seen "anticyclonic gloom" over the past week, causing dull skies, with some areas not having seen the sun in more than a week. Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news
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The Met Office forecast for Wales says: "Mainly dry through this period although some rain is possible later. Often cloudy with brighter/clearer periods at times. Temperatures rising and becoming very mild by Thursday. Breezy at times."
The predicted temperatures of 14°C by the middle of the week are well above February's average, with 6°C the usual monthly average in Scotland and 9°C in southern England, which will be a "noticeable shift" after the last fortnight which was below average, Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey previously said.
But it is not likely to be record-breaking, as February's highest temperature was 21.2°C recorded in 2019 in Kew Gardens, he added.
More western areas are likely to see some rain during the week, while eastern areas are forecast to stay drier.
Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said he does not expect any national records to be broken, but some areas could go 10 days without any sunshine, which is "near record-breaking".
Mr Morgan said: "We've basically got this battleground taking place over this weekend between cold air across Scandinavia and central Europe, which is affecting eastern parts of the UK, but towards the west is a little bit milder.
"The Atlantic is trying to shift that cold air out of the way, pushing from west to east across the UK, but it's a very slow process and it will take until the middle of the coming week for conditions to turn much milder nationwide."
He explained the gloom "dominating" the UK over the last two weeks has been caused by a "large anticyclone", or high-pressure system, which has been sitting over Scandinavia, bringing cold wind from the east.
"Those cold conditions have picked up a lot of moisture across the Baltic and North seas, and those moist conditions have led to a lot of clouds," he added. "That's why we haven't seen much in the way of sunshine in most of the UK recently."
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