Britons are preparing to dust off their shorts and put their umbrellas away as forecasters predict a return of sunny spells and weather ‘more like July should be’ with temperatures soaring to 75F (25C) over the next ten days.
The thick blanket of grey cloud will begin to break up from tomorrow, the Met Office said, with the sun again beginning to peep through between spells of light rain and drizzle.
But by the weekend fine and dry weather will have returned across parts of the UK, with the mercury climbing up to the low 70Fs (20Cs) across the UK.
The sunshine will then stick around into next week, meteorologists said, although it will not be ‘wall-to-wall’.
A dolphin jumps out of the sea in Tynemouth, near Newcastle, as a thick blanket of cloud hovers over the UK
The cloud and rain will remain in place on Friday before conditions brighten in time for the weekend
Met Office Meteorologist Steve Keates told MailOnline the weekend is ‘looking better than it’s been over the last few days’ and should start to feel ‘a little bit more like July should be’.
‘Tonight, more in the way of this low cloud, drizzle and humidity is expected, giving a muggy feel,’ he warned, ‘with heavy rain developing tonight in England and eastern Scotland’.
‘Friday is going to be a day of sunshine and showers, with temperatures in the low 70Fs (20Cs), and it will be a cool-ish night into Saturday morning.
‘But by Saturday there will be a lot of dry weather around in the south. There will also be the odd shower around with light winds and strong July sunshine. It should be quite pleasant.’
Sunday will be much the same with ‘quite a bit of sunshine’ and temperatures in the high-70Fs (25C), he said, with the brighter and drier weather expected to continue into the next week.
The Weather Outlook’s forecaster Brian Gaze also predicted a brighter Friday ‘but not warm’, with temperatures only climbing higher this weekend.
‘Temperatures into high-70Fs (25C) in southern England but much cooler further north’, he told MailOnline. ‘It’ll be 66F (19C) in Northern Ireland and slightly warmer in Scotland.
‘Then, as we go through next week, what you’re going to get is it being more settled than it has been. We’re going to have high pressure and lots of sunshine for much of the week.
‘I wouldn’t expect wall-to-wall sunshine but it should be much better than we have had. But changeable and more unsettled the further north you go.’
The weather is set to improve over the weekend with temperatures soaring up to 75F (24C). Saturday, left, and Sunday, right
The Met Office said grey cloud cover will hover over the UK today with the chance of rain showers and drizzle
Scotland and Northern Ireland will see sunny spells today. Meteorologists said cloud cover is due to a tropical storm
The Met Office also warned that another tropical storm is developing near the US coast which, if it drifts north, could result in further rain and cloud cover by the end of next week.
Meteorologist Aidan McGivern said cloud hovering over the UK today was the remnants of tropical storm Edouard, which has travelled up from Bermuda.
‘Tropical storm activity in the Atlantic often throws into doubt weather forecasts for this time of year,’ he said. ‘These small bundles of energy can throw the jet stream into a wobbly at relatively short notice.
‘And we’ve seen that happen this week. Tropical storm Edouard came along, interacted with the jet stream, and ended up pushing areas of low pressure towards England and Wales.
‘And on Thursday Edouard, or at least the remnants of Edouard, are sitting across England and Wales.
‘Not a tropical storm of course, more an area of humidity. A lot of low cloud, bits of fog, pieces of generally light rain and drizzle and a humid feel for England and Wales.’
The Met Office tweeted this morning: ‘A grey and cloudy start (in England and Wales) with outbreaks of rain and drizzle.
‘(But) the sun will be shining across Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland on Thursday morning.’