Hooray! Warm weather to finally arrive

Long-awaited spring weather is finally expected to arrive this weekend with temperatures set to return to normal, following the coldest March in more than 50 years.

Those in the south will see temperatures reaching up to 10C (50F), only a few degrees below typical April averages, with sunshine spreading across the UK.

But the rise in warmer temperatures will bring unsettled weather including flurries of rain.
Matt Dobson, forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "There's definitely a change on the way. We'll notice it next week more than anything, with temperatures returning to normal.

"Saturday looks like a lovely day for the south. Cold but plenty of sunshine around, although there will be a frosty start. By the end of Saturday it could get up to 10C in the south, which is a few degrees warmer than we have seen and just below the average for April.

"In the north it will still be fairly cold even on Saturday with rain and sleet about.

"Temperatures are on the up but the weather won't be that nice. It is turning less cold with temperatures returning to normal but with that rise we'll have lots of rain."

Average temperatures across the UK will reach 7C to 8C (44F to 46F) on Saturday, rising to 9C (48F) on Sunday and could continue to rise during the week, according to the Met Office.

Temperatures will nearly hit 11C (51F), the average maximum temperature for April nationally, but will still be a few degrees away from the London average of 12C (53F).

Dan Williams, of the Met Office, said: "What we'll see is temperatures going much closer to the average but we'll see more unsettled weather with it, about with some brighter, drier spells."

The Met Office confirmed on Tuesday that the average UK temperature in March was just 2.2C, making it the coldest since 1962 (1.9C) and the joint-second coldest since records began in 1910.
Temperatures were 3.3C below the monthly average of 5.5C, and the weather was also drier than average with just 62.1mm of rain against an average of 95.1mm.

The past month's freezing conditions have been largely due to high pressure which allowed cold, dry air to sweep across Britain from the east, but milder and more unsettled conditions should begin to move in towards the end of the week.