Parts of UK set to be hotter than Barcelona and the Costa Del Sol
Forecasters said Norfolk could be expected to see temperatures up to 18C.
Parts of the UK are set to be hotter than Barcelona and the Costa Del Sol.
Thursday is expected to be the hottest day of the year so far, with parts of eastern England reaching up to 18C.
This is “fairly unusual but not unheard of” for this time of year, Met Office forecaster Stephen Dixon said.
With Norfolk expected to reach 18C on Thursday, “this is obviously above average,” Mr Dixon added. The average UK daytime maximum temperature in March is 9.2C.
The highest March temperature on record was March 29 1968, at 25.6C.
The Met Office has predicted London and Manchester will see highs of 16C as a result of warm air drawing in from the South West.
Meanwhile, Barcelona is forecast to have highs of 14C and the Spanish Costa highs of 12C.
Elsewhere in Europe, holidaymakers in Malaga and Lisbon will be disappointed with temperatures only reaching 13C, significantly cooler than parts of the UK.
Mr Dixon predicted that we will see “good sunny spells on Saturday which should feel pleasant in the sunshine for many”.
But whilst some areas of the UK will be hotter than parts of Spain, it is not expected to cover all areas.
Mr Dixon said: “The thing to note is that it’s not universally nice weather for everyone. So, there’s patchy rain around on Friday, particularly for Western areas of Wales and South West and North West England, that comes with a bit more cloud as well.
“It’s not necessarily shorts and head to the beach weather for the whole of the UK.”
But the UK has not seen the back of winter just yet, as the Met Office has predicted that temperatures will cool and could even bring flurries of snow as we move into next week.
This is due to a colder pool of air moving in from the north west on Monday, going into Tuesday.
The Met Office said this was not unusual. “As we move through spring, we do get periods of warmer weather, and we also see colder plunges of weather, and that’s the current outlook in terms of temperature for the most for the UK,” Mr Dixon advised.
