Sunny and dry as fans cheer Lionesses in Women’s World Cup final

A sunny and largely dry day is forecast as England fans gather to cheer on the Lionesses in the Women’s World Cup final.

The Met Office said there will be a bright start to Sunday morning for many, with temperatures from 18-21C expected across the UK when the match kicks off in Sydney, Australia, at 11am BST.

There may be some scattered showers but most places are expected to stay dry – good news for those gathering in fan zones and beer gardens to watch the match.

And the forecast should also please anyone planning a barbecue to celebrate if the Lionesses beat Spain to make England world champions for the first time since the men’s team’s victory in 1966.

Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst told the PA news agency: “It’s going to be a bright day.”

“Sunny spells across the whole country,” he said.

“A few showers are possible but most places will stay dry. I think there could be one or two heavy showers perhaps across Scotland and Northern Ireland, but even here lots of places will stay dry.”

Most places will reach 20-23C, he said, while the southeast of the UK could see 25C.

Mr Dewhurst said it may remain “a little bit breezy” in the northwest of the UK on Sunday, after Storm Betty brought strong winds and heavy rain on Friday and Saturday.

He added: “We could see gusts during the day, say the Western Isles, around about 35 to 40 miles an hour but in most places the winds will be lighter than this.”

Mr Dewhurst said “unsettled” weather is expected to return towards the end of the week but there will be plenty of sunny spells and warm temperatures until at least Wednesday or Thursday.

The strongest impact of Storm Betty has been in the Republic of Ireland and storm force winds caused damage to the power network on Friday, affecting just over 70,000 homes, farms and businesses.

ESB networks said 30,000 of its customers remained without electricity at 5pm on Saturday and staff were working through the night to restore power to as many as possible.

Betty is the second storm named in August, following Storm Antoni earlier this month.

This is the second time since storm naming was introduced in 2015 that two storms have been named in August, following Ellen and Francis in August 2020.