Dry, sunny and warm for many of us next week?

It's going to be a rather grey weekend for most of us, but for once, it won't last, as an area of high pressure building to the north will kill off most of the cloud cover and we will also see warmer air spread in as we head through next week. A taste of summer (the first since late March) looks highly likely away from eastern coastal areas.

Today has started off bright in the northern half of Scotland and parts of southern England and grey elsewhere, and these "zones" will persist during the rest of today. Northern Scotland will have a bright day with a scattering of showers developing during the afternoon, and it will be a similar story in southern England, but elsewhere cloudy and drizzly conditions will persist. The brighter areas of southern England will be somewhat warmer than elsewhere, getting to 15-17C widely, but other regions will struggle with highs between 8 and 12C (even the brighter parts of Scotland).

Tonight we can expect that clearer weather to extend further south, covering most of Scotland and Ireland and resulting in a frost in those areas, but staying mild over England and Wales thanks to extensive cloud cover.

Sunday will be a dry sunny day in Scotland and Ireland as pressure slowly builds to the north, but it will be another overcast day elsewhere with a little drizzle. The weather may brighten up over parts of northern England during the afternoon. Temperatures will be a little higher than today's (except for southern England), reaching 11-14C in most regions.

But it's into the working week when we can expect the taste of summer to really take hold. Monday will see the cloud sheet stubbornly hang on in south-east England but elsewhere it will be a sunny day with temperatures reaching 17-20C in the west, and hitting the low teens near the east coast despite the breeze off the North Sea. Dry, sunny and warm for the vast majority around midweek, with highs of 20-22C likely in western Britain.

Published on 19th May 2012 10:59 Updated: 19th May 2012 10:59