After a chilly first half of this week, with widespread frosty nights, the weather is now warming up for the next few days as many of us are set to see a lot of blue sky and sunshine too.
Wednesday morning started off on a chilly note, with overnight lows of -8.3C (17F) at Braemar in Aberdeenshire. Temperatures quickly rose with the strong, spring sunshine and a change in wind direction bringing warmer air from the south.
Afternoon highs are expected to peak around 14C to 17C for the southern half of the UK and 9C to 13C further north.
By Thursday – the spring equinox – the warmer air will have spread further north, with most places expected to have temperatures in the mid-to-high teens, and 20C possible in the London area.
The UK’s highest temperature of the year so far is 19.7C, recorded at Crosby in Merseyside on 9 March, so there is a chance Thursday’s high will exceed this.
The spell of warmer weather this week will have temperatures roughly 4C to 7C above the March average. However, this isn’t uncommon for the time of year.
March is typically a transition season – from winter to spring – during which we often see big swings depending on the direction of the wind.
Although not unusual, this type of warmer spell in spring is made more likely due to climate change.
Scientists from ‘Climate Central, external‘ think this week’s temperatures have been made at least one-to-three times more likely by climate change across a lot of the UK, and for some regions at least four-to-five times more likely.
The hottest-ever March temperature of 25.6C was recorded at Mepal, Cambridgeshire, in 1968.
While Thursday will see the peak of the warmth, many of us will hold on to above average temperatures both by day and by night for a few more days, but cooler air and more unsettled conditions will gradually move in through the weekend.
Check the longer range forecast in our latest monthly outlook.
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