UK weather: Sunny spells and scattered showers over weekend and into next week

Temperatures are to drop at the start of next week before rising again on Wednesday

The UK will experience a weekend of sunny spells and scattered showers, a weather pattern which will continue into the start of next week.

On Saturday, the forecast is generally sunny but there is a risk of rain in eastern Scotland and eastern England.

Greg Dewhurst, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told The Independent: “One or two of these [showers] could be heavy, but overall not as heavy compared to Friday and not as frequent.”

Temperatures are expected to peak at around 18 or 19C around London, with the average temperature for the UK falling between 14 and 16C.

Overnight there may be one or two spots in Scotland and Northern Ireland that dip down to around freezing, but elsewhere temperatures will be similar to the past few nights at between 3 and 7C.

On Sunday, Mr Dewhurst said people should expect “sunny spells and scattered showers”, the latter being more frequent than on Saturday.

Southern England will be the driest region.

Looking ahead to next week, the Met Office is monitoring a “lively band of weather” which may bring “heavy rain and strong winds” to south-west England and southern Wales early on Tuesday.

This weather will weaken as it heads north-eastwards towards central-south England.

Temperatures will feel “noticeably cooler” at 12C in some areas at the start of the week, before climbing again on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Thursday, which will mark three weeks since the last period of lockdown was announced, the Met Office predicts a high of 21C.